ABSTRACT
The study surveyed the influence of on the child
abuse on academic performance of secondary school students in Ilorin metropolis. Data were collected from
200 randomly selected students.
A questionnaire was the major instrument used for
data collection. The data collected were analysed using t-test and Pearson
Product Moment Correlation.
The results indicated that the respondents were
abused by their different parents; no significant relationship was found
between child abuse and student’s academic performance when correlated. There is
also no significant influence of child abuse on the academic performance of students.
It was recommended that public enlightenment
campaign should be carried out on the danger of child abuse.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
TITLE
PAGE i
CERTIFICATION ii
DEDICATION
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
ABSTRACT vii
TABLE
OF CONTENTS viii
LIST
OF TABLES xi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study 1
Statement
of the Problem 6
Purpose
of the Study 7
General
Questions 7
Research
Hypotheses 7
Significance
of the Study 9
Delimitation
of the Study 10
Definition
of Terms (Operational) 11
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED
LITERATURE
Concept
of Child Abuse 12
Pattern
of Child Abuse 22
Prevalence
of Child Abuse 27
Consequence
of Child Labour/Errand Child 31
Appraisals
of the Related Literature 36
CHAPTER THREE: REEARCH METHODS
Introduction 38
Research
Design 38
Population
of the Study 39
Sample
and Sampling Technique 39
Instrumentation 39
Validity
of the Instrument 40
Reliability
of the Instrument 41
Administration
of the Instrument 41
Data
Analysis 42
CHAPTER
FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Hypothesis
Testing 45
Discussion
of Results 49
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION
AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary 52
Conclusions 53
Implication
of the Study 54
Recommendations 54
Limitation
of the study 55
Suggestion
for further studies 55
References 57
Appendix
60
LIST
OF TABLES
Table
1: Distribution of Respondents by Sex 43
Table
2: Distribution of Participants by
Parental
Education 43
Table
3: Distribution of Participants by Age
Group 44
Table
4: Distribution of Participants by
Family Type 44
Table 5: Results of Pearson Product Moment Correlation
Coefficient
on Child Abuse and Student
Performance
45
Table 6: Results
of t-test analysis on male and
female
performance 46
Table 7: Duncan Multiple
Range Test on Students
Performance
by Parental Education 47
Table 8: Results
of t-test statistics on student
performance
by age group 48
Table 9: Results
of t-test analysis on the students’
performance
by family types 49
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
Nigerian
children are faced with many problems. Many of them suffer abuse in various
forms such as neglect, abandonment and starvation. Some of them are victims of
broken homes and conflict laden families. As a result of this, many of them are
brought up in either single parent homes to by guardians.
Nigerians
have positive attitudes to having and rearing the children (Oyebanre, 1991).
This is because, they are considered as continuation of the family generation.
Thus, according to Oyebanre (1991), is the reason why the extended family
system serves to safeguard the welfare of its members.
Another
reason for having children was to complement the family labour force. Garuba
(1998) stated that Africans and Nigerians in particular have many children in
order to use them for farming. She pointed out that in olden days, the larger
your family members, the larger your extra hands to work in the farm and the
healthy the individual would be in. thus, children in traditional society are
taken to the farm at very tender age to cultivate the land.
It
is also part of the child-rearing pattern to see children in the family as part
of economic aspect. This was related by Oyebanre (1991) in two categories.
The
first category is an aspect of socialization, she explained this method is a
way of socializing children into the commercial activities. Thus, children are
sent out to hawk commodities like cigarette, Kola, Water, groundnuts, etc. This
is meant to teach the child how to count money, giving and collecting change.
The
second category as noted by Oyebanre (1991) are the parents affected by
economic recession in order to find alternative source of income, they engage
their children to hawk commodities so that they (the children) could raise
money to support the family. Others send them out as householders or as a child
labourer called errand child (omo onise). In whatever form, the purpose is to
work in order to raise money for the family sustenance.
In
all enumerated practices, the children could be exposed to abuse, neglect and
danger which could have adverse effect on the development of the children.
Nwaomu (1990) asserted that many parents in Bendel State
engaged their children in child labour and refuse to send them to school. This,
according to her was because of the monetary gains which might not be used for
the child’s benefit.
Many
of these children that were engaged in this form of labour experienced
different form of abuse, some were physically abused. Example of this form of
abuse was a house mistress who poured kerosene on a house girl was beaten to
the extent of being unconscious for alleged neglect of a baby put under her
care.
Daroven (1995) reported that many
children had been exposed to work harzard of various forms, children who are
sent to engage in street trading have been found to meet with one form of
accident or the other. He explained that some of them have been attack by
thieves, beaten and money realized from hawking stolen away. Others,
particularly girls, have been exposed to danger of sexual abuse leading to
unwanted pregnancies and unclaimed child.
One
of the growing concerns in the society seems to be the contribution of child
abuse on the behavioural, emotional and living problems of children. All these,
according to Gill (1999) are not without adverse effect of child’s development.
These include juvenile delinquency, hooliganism, drug abuse, theft, teenage
pregnancies, drop out and mass failure in school examinations.
Adegbite (1991) reported that poor
academic performance of children could be attributed to the child’s background.
This refers to the home in which the child is raised. He reported studies which
found children of professionals, executives and clerics who receive parental
support to be as advantage and academically performed better than children who
are abused by their parents.
Personal experience has also shown that
children who are abused could find it difficult to adjust to school situation.
He could, therefore, found to be habitual late comers, to be always sleeping in
the class while others are learning, to always be in short supply of needed
school materials and to be among the backward students in the class. It is also
the researcher’s opinion that children in this category need assistance in
coping with their situations. This is the area of concern for the study.
Statement of the Problem
Child
abuse as one of the social problems plaguing the society could have far
reaching effect and constitute block to children’s development. This is because
the forms in which most of these children have been abused have prevented them
from pursuing normal developmental trends as their colleagues. Thus they face
the problem of under development in many areas. (Mustapha, 2002).
Many secondary school children who were
abused face many problems including insufficient time for schooling,
destruction from the normal academic programme, insufficient time for rest and
denial of opportunity of enjoy as other children. All these could have negative
effect on the school going and academic performance of secondary school students. This is why, these researchers deem
it fit to investigate the effects of child abuse on the academic performance of
secondary school students.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to
investigate the effects of child abuse on students academic performance in Ilorin. I also sought to
compare differences between academic performance of students on the basis of
sex, age, family type and parental education.
General Questions
What is the influence of child abuse on
the academic performance of secondary school students in Ilorin.
Research Hypotheses
The following hypotheses will be tested
in the study:
H01: There is no significant
relationship between the influence of child-abuse on the academic performance
of secondary school students.
H02: There is no significant
difference in the teachers perception of the effects of child-abuse in the
academic performance of male and female secondary school students.
H03: There is no significant
difference in the teachers perception of the effects of child-abuse in the
academic performance of children from illiterate and literate homes.
H04: There is no significant
difference in the teachers perception of the effects of child-abuse on the
academic performance of young and old secondary school students.
H05: There is no significant
difference in the teachers perception of the effects of children from
polygamous and monogamous home.
Significance of the Study
The study is very necessary to determine
if children that are abuse do well in secondary school or not. This is in view
of the psycho-social problem confronting these children on the daily basis.
Mass failure is a common phenomenon in our educational institutions, knowing
the contribution of child abuse in the lives of young school children is an
important factor for embarking on this study.
The study could be useful to the abused
children themselves through the knowledge of negative consequences it has on
them. They may therefore, learn to adjust and cope with the situation in order
to improve on their academic activities.
The children abused could also benefit
by knowing the damage they area causing on the lives of the innocent children.
The result of this study could be useful
to administrators and educators who can use it for assisting abused children in
school and to cope with their situations.
The study is very important to the
counsellors. This is because, the result could provide necessary information to
be used as sources for counselling. Thus, this could sere as aids to the
counsellors for assisting the affected children.
The study may be useful as a source of
information on the danger inherent in child abuse. This may propel the general
public to rise against the abuse of children’s rights.
Delimitation of the Study
The
study investigates the effects of child abuse on the academic performance of
primary school children in Ilorin.
Data on pupils were collected and analysed across sex, age, parental education
and family type.
The study involved 200 randomly selected
primary school students. It is however limited to the teachers in the primary
schools and the aspect of child abuse measured in the questionnaire.
Definition of Terms (Operational)
The
following terms are defined as used in the study.
Abuse:
Being subjected to ill treatment or harsh conditions that may not be morally
acceptable.
Child Labour:
Engaging a child of tender age on very difficult task or labour beyond their
capacity.
Errand Children: School
going children who engage in manual work such as washing clothes, fetching
water, cooking, etc for monetary gains.
Click “DOWNLOAD NOW” below to get the complete Projects
FOR QUICK HELP CHAT WITH US NOW!
+(234) 0814 780 1594
Login To Comment