CAUSES AND EFFECT OF TRUANCY ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUPILS IN SELECTED PRIMARY SCHOOL (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Truancy is a widespread problem facing communities today considering the following facts:
Youths who are truants greatly increase their risk of dropping out of school. And high (school dropouts are more likely to be employed in menial jobs or to end up in prison.
Truancy, according to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, truancy is any intentional unauthorized absence from compulsory schooling. The term typically describes absenteeism caused by students of their own freewill, and usually does not refer to legitimate “excused” absences, such as ones related to medical conditions. But the term’s exact meaning differs from schools handbook of policies and procedures. It has no relation to home schooling. Although sometimes parents who practice home schooling have been charged with this. It may also be referred to as students attending school but do not go to classes.
This worldwide phenomenon is a cankerworm that has been destroying many students, irrespective of gender. It has rendered so many useless, with the cumulative effect on their families and even countries. Truancy has turned many students into failures, leading to inability to succeed in both internal and external examinations.
In some schools in abroad, truancy may result in eligibility to graduate or to receive credit for classes attended, until the time lost to truancy made up through a combination of detention, fines, or summer school. But unfortunately in Nigeria, there is no penalty for it and neither are there handbooks of policies and procedure in schools.
Some students stay away from school for several reasons. These includes family poor standard of living, whereby parents cannot provide necessities of life for their children. Such students would not want to be in the class so as to avoid embarrassment from teachers and even their peers, autism has prevented some other students from being present in the school. Other students engage in truancy because of selfish interest or bad influence from peer groups. In fact, this particular case presents the most common factor, causing about 50 percent of students not making themselves available in school.
Some prefers spending time in parties, visiting their boyfriends, sugar mummies, sugar daddies and play stations instead of being in classrooms engaging in useful activities. The most painful thing is that so many times, their parents might not know what their wards have been up to and even when they know, they could do little or nothing to make amend.
Some communities are responding to truancy problems by enacting tough measures to keep kids in class.
Truancy has become such a significant problem that some cities are now passing ordinance allowing police to issue a citation to either the parent or the truant which can result in a $500 fine or 30days in jail for the parent and suspension of the youth’s license to drive.
In addition to fining parents, courts can order them to attend parenting classes and hold them in contempt of court if they do not attend. In some cases, the court may take a child away from a parent and make the child a ward of the court.
Other communities are working to prevent the problem of truancy before it beings, by offering positive activities that increase students’ interest in school academic performance and confidence levels.
