ABSTRACT
This project titled “broken home and children educational career”. The objective is to identify the causes of broken homes and their effect on the child’s education in AkwaIbom State. Means of collecting the data, the method used in gathering information and the research instrument used is the questionnaire. From the questionnaire, data were gotten and analysed. Findings of other authors and researchers that are related to the effect of broken homes and children educational career were reviewed. The children from broken homes are not opportune to plan with their sponsors what course to percentage in life. Couple intending to go into marriage should be matured and they must understand each other before going into marriage as this will help reduce causes of divorce./ the government should establish a legal backing standard the age in which the youths go into marriage to reduce the frequent occurrence of broken homes.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The home is the primary institution for children, home as perceived by Abdulganiyu (1997), Christe (2009), defined home as a place in which an individual or a family can rest and store personal property. Haven defined the concept of home it is therefore important to define family. The family can therefore be looked at as a social group characterized by common resident, economic cooperation and production, when a child is born, the family is the first primary group with which they come into contact. Transmission of social values or rights and wrong, what is morally and religiously accepted or condemned by the family, it follows therefore that by the time a child attained five to seven years of age he must have learnt what are his rights, obligations and roles within the society. However, the background of a student goes a long way to determine his/her individuality. As the child enter schools, he/she will start manifesting different attitudes and expectations, in addition they may be of the same age group, developed at different rates and so may be able to cope with the intellectual and social task of the school in varying extent. However a home can either be stable or broken. A stable home is one in which both parents (mother and father) live together with their children, while a broken home is the one in which one or both of the parents are not living together with the children. It is the level at which the home operates that determine the academic achievement of students in school.
Broken home been it unstable can influence the achievement of students academically, also children that have suffered from neglect or lack of love (in a broken homes) are known to be psychologically imbalanced to face the realities of life when there is disunity in the family, or a difference between a the middle and will be at disadvantage. According to Blackby (1999), adequate research need to be conducted in this direction to ensure smooth transition of children from early stages to adulthood.
The child homes and his family offer the best education since his parents serve as teachers, the parents lay the foundation for the desired social, moral, emotional, spiritual and intellectual well being of the child. The training received from home is of great importance in his/her total personality for academic achievements as a students. It can also be observed that the pattern of life in the home (stable or broken), the economic and social status of the family in the community and many others conditions that give the home a distinctive character can influence the achievement of students in school. Abdulganiyu (1997), added that research have shown that children differs in various way as a result of variables of their home background such as socio-economic status, parental attitude to school and child rearing practices. These home background variables are also found to be positively related to children’s academic achievement, more especially students that need care and love. Similarly Giwa (1997), have investigated the factors within the students home background or family that affect their performance in schools, variables such as socio-economic status, family size, birth order, parental attitude, child rearing practices, parental absence or presence have been found to affect social and intellectual learning experience of children in schools. This is so because children are born with some psychological , emotional and intellectual needs such as need for love and security, the need for new experience, the need for praise and recognition and the need for responsibility, many of these needs are not offered to the children of broken homes which will influence their performance in academics. The extent to which these needs are met during the formative years of children between birth and the age of six or seven in the extent to which they enter school well equipped or ready to deal with the social and emotional aspects of schooling. Based on the observation above and in line with the assumption that economic and social future of many children in most localities is being undermined by cultural practices that promotes widespread divorce amongst couples and brought unnecessary hardship to the growing children. It is pertinent at this juncture to point out inspite of all the needs expressed as to be met by the students this research also has intended to seek for how much students is affected in academic achievement, either as a result of his home been stable or broken.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
In our society, children are sometimes exposed at an early age to all sort of dangers arising from malnutrition, diseases and various temptation of surviving due to absence of one or both of their parents. Students life in broken homes is observed to be associated with emotional stress that can impair intellectual development, thereby giving way for such children to grow up without being trained properly. However, absence of one or both parents deprives young children of the stable love, care, security and total support they have been accustomed to and tend to make children different in the eyes of the peer group. If children are asked where the missing parent is or why they have a new parent to replace the missing parents, they become embarrassed and ashamed. They may also feel quality and unwanted by the society, such stressful situation leads to psychological, emotional and intellectual imbalance in growing children. These subsequently result to quitting from school or poor academic achievement of students. Hence it becomes necessary to investigate factors that causes broken homes with a view to finding solution to the problems for psychological well being of growing children in our society, and these lead us to look at the effect of broken homes on students education particularly in Uyo Local Government Area of Aka Ibom State.
