1.1 Introduction
Displacement and de-motivation are the common consequences of attacks on education during war and terror. Educational sectors e.g. schools, colleges and universities are considered as soft targets, and are attacked frequently by government opposing parties in war and conflict. As a result, if schools are repeatedly attacked then it becomes too dangerous for teachers to turn up to teach or for parents to send students to them, and a keystone of stability is removed from the community. This results in increasing the likelihood of displacement and putting children at risk from other dangers (IRIN News, 2008).
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
Studies have indicated that that there are three types of risks for children and youth after being exposed to disasters or being displaced i.e. psychological, physical, and educational. The extent to which displacement have affected the academics can be better known by the interests, attitudes, and motivation of students toward their studies after being displaced (Lori, 2008). Studies indicate that motivation plays a vital role in academia for improving academics. In this context, Gresham and Reschly (1987) have explained that the concept of academic motivation has been derived from the broader term known as “effectance motivation”, a need to be successful and effective in dealing with one’s environment. Accordingly, academic motivation is a student’s desire to be successful with regard to his academic subjects when his competence is judge against a standard of performance or excellence. This desire of a student is usually reflected in his approach toward studies, in consistency of his endeavors to achieve academic goals and in sustainability of his interest in studies (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002).
The issue of poor academic performance of students in Nigeria has been of much concern to the government, parents, teachers and even student themselves. The quality of education not only depends on the teachers as reflected in the performance of their duties, but also in the effective coordination of the learning environment (Ajao 2010) learning environment which include instructional spaces planning, administrative places planning, circulation spaces planning, spaces for conveniences planning, accessories planning, the teachers as well as the students themselves are essential in teaching-learning process. The extent to which student learning could be enhanced depends on their location within the school compound, the structure of their classroom, availability of instructional facilities and accessories. It is believed that a well planned school will gear up expected outcomes of education that will facilitate good social, political and economic emancipation, effective teaching and learning process and academic performance of the students.
Relating this study to international occurrences are the assertions of Williams, Persaud, and Turner (1008), quoting Marsden (1005), which reported that safe and orderly classroom environment (aspect of instructional space), School facilities (accessories) were significantly related to students’ academic performance in schools. The three researchers, also quoted Glassman (1994), asserting that a comfortable and caring environment among other treatments helped to contribute to students' academic performance.
The physical characteristics of the school have a variety of effects on teachers, students, and the learning process. Poor lighting, noise, high levels of carbon dioxide in classrooms, and inconsistent temperatures make teaching and learning difficult. Poor maintenance and ineffective ventilation systems lead to poor health among students as well as teachers, which leads to poor performance and higher absentee rates (Frazier, 1002).
According to Lyons (2010) and Ostendorf (2010) these factors can adversely affect student behavior and lead to higher levels of frustration among teachers, and poor learning attitude among student. Beyond the direct effects that poor facilities have on students’ ability to learn, the combination of poor facilities, which create an uncomfortable and uninviting workplace for teachers, combined with frustrating behavior by students including poor concentration and hyperactivity, lethargy, or apathy, creates a stressful set of working conditions for teachers. Because stress and job dissatisfaction are common pre-cursors to lowered teacher enthusiasm, it is possible that the aforementioned characteristics of school facilities have an effect upon the academic performance of students.
Previous studies have investigated the relationship of poor learning environment including problems with student-teacher ratio, school location, school population, classroom ventilation, poor lighting in classrooms, and inconsistent temperatures in the classroom with student health problems, student behavior, and student achievement (Crandell & Smaldino, 2000; Davis, 2010; Johnson, 2010; Lyons, 2010;Moore, 1002; Stricherz, 2000; Tanner, 2000). To complement these studies, the present research is to examine the aforementioned areas of learning environment as it affects student’s performance in Nigerian schools.
Therefore, in Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effects of Displacement on Student Performance in Some Selected Secondary School.
1.3 Statement of Problem
A student faces a lot of problem in the course of his educational pursuit. These problems are multifaceted. The research is concerned with the influence of the learning environment with special reference to student’s academic attainment and possible solution to the problem. The alarming poor performance in examination is definitely of great concern to the researcher who sees the study as inevitable.
It is noted that students’ performance at polytechnic level at private and public schools differs due to environmental constraints. The high levels of students’ academic performance may not be guaranteed where instructional space such as classrooms, libraries, technical workshops and laboratories are structurally defective.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Effects of Displacement on Student Performance in Some Selected Secondary School in Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To study the impact of displacement of the educational and academic performance of Secondary School Students
- To examine the reasons for students’ poor performance in Secondary School
- To assess the impact of displacement and militancy on self-efficacy and motivation level of the students in Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State
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:
- What is the impact of displacement of the educational and academic performance of Secondary School Students?
- What are the reasons for students’ poor performance in Secondary School?
- Does displacement and militancy on self-efficacy and motivation level impact students in Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State?
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.
- H01: Displaced students of Secondary School will score low on Academic Motivation Scale as compared to displaced students in Balanga Local Government Area
- H02: Students who score high on Academic Motivation Scale will not score high on General Self-Efficacy Scale.
1.7 Significance of Study
This study would provide information for parents, educators and school administrators to reflect upon various factors that help students in achieving their academic goals. In so doing, they can investigate the possibility of introducing those factors to their school, which may consequently lead to enhancing students’ educational outcomes in school. In addition, the fact that this study is conducted in public schools, it shares quite a lot of similarities with many other counterparts.
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 study focuses on the Effects of Displacement on Student Performance in Some Selected Secondary School in Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State.
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).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Academy: A school or college for special training.
Student: The word “Student” means any person who is ready to learn and engage in learning activities.
Environment: Environment can be seen as the totality of the natural and artificial (manmade) phenomenon having direct and
Learning: Learning is basically a process of adapting to and improving the environment. What is learned can be measured either by those things that we observe in the behaviour of the individual.
Performance: Is the act of performing a play, concert or some other form of entertainment.
