ABSTRACT
This study examined the parental influence and impact on the academic performance of the children in Odeda Local Government area of Ogun State. The questionnaire sought and elicited information on parental influence on the academic performance of the child, which helps to get at educational background of parent, Economic status of parents, Religious background of parents, marital status which also helps to seek for possible solution to them. Pupils were randomly selected from Odeda Local Government area with the population of one hundred (100) pupils and 100 questionnaire were administered in the ten (10 Primary school). 1.1 Background of the study Since western education became firmly rooted in Nigeria. It has faced myriads of problems (Ijaiya 1999). Most of Nigerian governments have been battling with these problems during colonial or post independence era. It has resulted in the setting up of various commissions (e.g. The Asuby commission of 1960; the 1969 curriculum conference, Education Reform of Committee of 2006 etc) to examine Nigeria’s educational problem and make recommendations. Among the problems facing the Nigeria educational system is large and poorly resourced classes.
The problems of shortage of teachers and classrooms are intricately interwoven and when both combine with large pupil enrolment, the consequence is over-crowded classrooms (Ijaiya 1999). This has become a reality that educators must see it as a challenge and must face it squarely. The social-demand for formal education in Nigeria resulted into an upsurge increase in school enrolment with a dramatic increase in the class size; thereby resulting into high teacher pupil ratio. Class size is a big factor in determining the attainment of educational goals and objectives. The recommended students population in a single classroom should not exceed 40 to a teacher. Teaching and learning as well as classroom management becomes ineffective because teachers were predisposing to more stress in handling the students. The introduction of UBE in the country depicts the fact that teachers are being saddled with greater responsibility because many schools have become congested. Overpopulated classrooms are considered to be unconductive for both teachers and students when it comes to the issue of continuous assessment marking and the ability to give individualized attention to students needing extra help. In teaching large classes, there is possibility of students copying and cheating; students negative attitude to learning new things; discipline problems; students using the mother tongue when asked to work in pairs or group; noise making; lack of opportunity for developing individual’s communicative skills and problems of boredom in teaching and testing as well as teacher domination. All these affect the job performance of teachers.
1.2 Statement of the problem
In Nigeria, using selected secondary schools from Ilorin West Local Government Area as a case study, schools are highly populated and the national policy of education gave an ideal ratio of teacher to pupil in a secondary school as 1:40 maximum. This study was interested in identifying the major problems caused by overpopulated classes in Nigeria growing with a view to making suggestions that could help to alleviate the problems. Knowing that the classroom is the heart of any educational system, no curriculum planning is complete without implementation and evaluation, both of which are mainly carried out in the classroom (Ijaiya 1999). As rightly observed by Cohen and Manion (1983 p.221) a careful attention to seating arrangement contributes as effectively as any other aspect of classroom management and control to overall success with a class subsequently. The seating arrangement can affect the teacher’s effectiveness and efficiency. Ideally, in a secondary school, seats should be arranged in rows with a reasonable amount of space between them to aid the teacher to teach effectively, as well as allow for individual and group work. To this end, the ratio of teacher to students should not exceed 1:40. But what one funds in many of these classes is between ratio 1:50 and 1:100 in certain cases.
