CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
With the worldwide concept of education for all and the implementation of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria as a follow-up scheme, it was expected that Nigeria’s growth would be expedited due to the inherent values in education. As a core discipline at the upper basic level of the Nigerian education system, social studies is one of those topics having the biggest mandate for converting Nigeria into a member of the world’s developed nations. Despite the significance placed on social studies education and the efforts made to promote it in schools, students’ academic achievement in social studies does not correspond to the investment made in it. According to Essien (2004), there has been a decline in students’ academic achievement in social studies over the years.
According to Essien (2004), as quoted in Opoh (2011), students’ academic performance in Social Studies deteriorates yearly when compared to other courses such as Christian Religious Knowledge, despite the fact that they are in the same subject group. Education is the most powerful agent of social and personal development that pupils experience in a relatively formative manner. Every level of education’s principal purpose is to effect fundamental change in the student (Tebabal & Kahssay, 2011).
