1.1 Introduction
Sport is a school for life which can contribute to personality - development and the acquisition of fundamental social skills. The absence of sports and games in public schools may cause different problems to students in all aspects, social, economic and political and particularly in academic performance (Gorton, 2010). The practice of well-organized sporting activities is widely accepted as beneficial to children and adolescents and has a positive impact on their physical, mental, psychological and social development. Sports and games meant to help students to reduce bad conduct or bad behaviors such as robbery, alcoholism, early sexual engagement and dropping out from school. Through involvement in sports and games students get energy, health, develop unity and cooperation and develop new ideas and skills specifically in social aspect (Hock, 2018).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The absence of sports and games may lead to poor students’ academic performance. Sports and games have been left behind in public secondary school compared to the earlier situation up to 1990s, was the time which high concentration on sports and games in secondary schools ended. If sports and games are not considered in secondary schools, it may lead to laziness, poor relationship between students and teachers, diseases and disunity to students. It is known worldwide that, sport and games activities are beneficial to the development of a child in school because it helps them to become physically and mentally fit, reduces their participation in bad behaviors because if they positively integrate into various activities such as religious activities, they will be disciplined and it also helps them to improve their talents. In different parts of the world students’ academic performance become a critical agenda with relationship to sport and games activities.
Scholars like Mandelbaum (2005) and Ivaniushina & Zapletina (2015) identified that sports and games are important part in everyday life of children and adolescents and affect various aspect of their life from academic achievement to manifestations of deviant behavior. Sports and games provide energy and healthy to students as well as a sense of unity, cooperation and discipline, which promote their academic performance.
According to Mello and Worrell (2008) define the term extracurricular activities as organized groups or activities such as dance, football, and students government and may occur in or outside of school. From this notion, it is clear that extracurricular activities take place after formal class, especially in the afternoon and evening hours. These activities may include school clubs, sport and games, school debate, drama, fashion as well as religious program.
In America researches have been conducted on the importance of sports and games on academic performance of students and teen sport as well. It is the first report to offer in depth analysis into how different types of sports and games teens play impact to their health and well-being in order to identify opportunities to improve access to high quality sports programming for students in schools, (Hock, 2018).
Surprisingly, there are few researchers who have investigated the influence of sports and games in enhancing students’ academic performance in public secondary schools. Even if there are empirical evidence indicates that participation in sports and games influence students’ academic performance. Less consideration on sports and games in public secondary schools, led to poor environment for students to study and perform well. When students get enough time for sports and games provide students with funny, refreshment and improving energy of students which promote unity and cooperation, confidence and good relationships among students and teachers. Access to and participation in sport and physical education provide an opportunity to experience social and moral inclusion for individuals and populations otherwise marginalized by social, ethnic, cultural or religious barriers. Through sport and physical education, individuals can experience equality, freedom and a dignifying means for empowerment particularly for girls and women, for people with a disability, for those living in conflict areas and for people recovering from trauma.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Absence of Sports in Public Primary Schools and Its Effect on Sports Development.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that a lot of money has been sunk into sports development in Nigeria but there is not much yet to show for the amount of money, expended so far. There are countries in Africa and in other parts of the world that do not have or spend the amount but produce better results in sports than Nigeria. Nigeria would have developed her sports by far better than countries (Ogunleye, 2006).
The absence of sports and games in public schools may cause different problems to students in all aspects, social, economic and political and particularly in academic performance (Gorton, 2010). Surprisingly, there are few researchers who have investigated the influence of sports and games in enhancing students’ academic performance in public secondary schools.
The problems affecting physical education teachers in teaching physical education and sports in schools worldwide and in Nigeria which includes, statutory requirements for physical education, status of the subject, curriculum time allocation, teacher training and resources. Others are corruption, use of non-professionals, monopoly of sports by the government and attitude of physical education teacher.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Absence of Sports in Public Primary Schools and Its Effect on Sports Development. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine the impact of sports and games in enhancing students’ academic performance in public primary schools;
- To assess the strategies school should adopt to influence sports and games in public primary schools towards students’ academic performance;
- To find out the effect of non-availability of sports equipment on the performance of primary school pupils in sports;
- To explore the challenges schools face in implementing sports and games in public primary schools; and
- To investigate the influence of sports and games on enhancing students’ academic performance in public primary schools in the area under study.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does lack of sport facilities affect sports activities in primary schools?
- Does lack of sports equipment hinder the sports performance of primary schools?
- Does lack of sports facilities affect sport competitions in primary schools?
- What is the effect of non-availability of sports equipment on the performance of primary school pupils in sports?
- What is the impact of sports and games in enhancing students’ academic performance in public primary schools?
- What are the challenges schools face in implementing sports and games in public primary schools?
- What is the strategies school should adopt to influence sports and games in public primary schools towards students’ academic performance?
- What is the influence of sports and games on enhancing students’ academic performance in public primary schools?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant factor influencing sports and games on enhancing students’ academic performance in public primary schools
- H1: There is significant factor influencing sports and games on enhancing students’ academic performance in public primary schools
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There are no significant challenges faced by schools in implementing sports and games in public primary schools
- H1: There are significant challenges faced by schools in implementing sports and games in public primary schools
1.7 Significance of Study
The findings of this study are expected to increase knowledge and understanding to education managers, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders such as teachers, students, government and parents, politicians on how students’ participation in sports and games help them on achieving their academic performance. Not only that, but the findings may also be used by the stakeholders in creating good strategies on how to influence sports and games in public primary schools, like preparing enough play grounds, jersey, sports and games competition both inside and outside the school, dedicating enough time for sports and games, since they contributes to academic performance of students by creating good relationships, confidence, unity and cooperation between students towards education activities such as group discussions and group presentations as well.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Absence of Sports in Public Primary Schools and Its Effect on Sports Development using Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
