1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Education is a process through which individuals acquire adequate and appropriate knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and behaviour necessary to function optimally as a citizen. It is considered as the bedrock of all facets of development of any nation, and a strong tool in development of human capacity. Wood (2010) described education as the key factor in the development of the nation, communities and individuals with regard to employment opportunities, economic empowerment and social accomplishment.
The major concern in basic education is ensuring that students stay in school until they complete their education. Dropping out is a serious problem because it denies individual students their fundamental human right to education. Internationally, the individual right to education has been repeatedly affirmed in many treaties and conventions such as The 1948 Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1990 World Conference on Education for all (UNESCO, 2000) of which Nigeria is one of the signatory. There is general consensus that the school dropout problem has reached epidemic proportions internationally and has become a global problem confronting the education industry round the world (Wotherspoon, 2004; Bridgeland, Entwisle and Horsey, 2006; Oghuvbu, 2008).
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