MENACE OF INDISCIPLINE AMONG NIGERIA SECONDARY SCHOOLS (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Education is a critical tool for the transformation of the individual and the society. Secondary education in Nigeria is aimed at preparing the individual for useful living within the society and preparation for higher education. For individual to be able to live a useful life in his society and contribute towards the social, economic and political development of the nation, the relevant skills, values, attitudes, knowledge and competencies must be impacted. Recent times have witnessed tremendous growth in the incidents of indiscipline in Nigerian secondary schools. Indiscipline has been a major and continuous administrative problem among secondary schools in developing countries. Denga (1999) in his study identified indiscipline problems such as stealing, truancy, sexual offence, vandalism and cheating as destructive practices.
In many urban and rural areas of Nigeria, the percentage of students who drop out of school is much higher. Such students develop and exhibit deviant behaviour and may never fulfill their potentials. They become burdens to the society. Nigerian educators, administrators and parents are concerned about the increasing rate of indiscipline in Nigerian secondary schools. This observation should disturb the mind of any patriotic Nigerian because the children are the future leaders of the country. As a result, any attempt to control or eliminate the existence of indiscipline in schools will be acceptable to the government, educators, parents and school administrators. The man thrust of this study is to investigate indiscipline in Secondary schools in Nigeria and identify the common types, causes and proffer possible solutions.
Several authors have defined the term discipline. According to Adesina (1980:108), discipline is to teach the students to respect the school authorities, to observe the school laws and regulations and to maintain an established standard of behaviour. From this definition the school has a role to play in inculcating discipline on the students. Egwunyenga (1994) defined discipline as the training that enables an individual to develop an orderly conduct and self-control, restraint, respect for self and respect for others. Discipline according to Abubakar (2000) is the ability and willingness to do what one ought to do without external control.
