A STUDY OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF GIRLS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Education is a dynamic process the result of which reflects almost directly on the standard of living. According to Farrant (1964) “Education describe the total process or human learning to which knowledge is imparted, faculties trained and skills developed.”. The attitude of student to learning affects their academic performance either positively or negatively. Most students are blazed towards science education before they start to study it. Mathematics for example is one of the major requirements in the field of science and technology and the importance of mathematics is stressed in the national policy on education. It is a known fact that in the teaching/learning process many factors militate against the excellent performance of student.

The parent and general public looks up to the children on words academic “giants” overweight and anything that falls below this high expectation renders teachers ineffective and unenthusiastic to them. Very few people careless of the other factors affecting the academic performance of students in school, poor performance of students is not caused by one person. The teacher sees the students as not hardworking enough. Also the society sees the school as not good enough in terms of provision of adequate library facilities and proper staffing. Other sees it as the fault of the government in terms of funding the school for better education. It is the line of though that prompted the investigation into funding all what factors really affect student’s performance in school with particular reference to female.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problem of this research is to identify those factors that affect the performance of female students in secondary schools. In doing this, the researcher will see to the following questions; 1. Is there any difference between the performances of females from different socio-economic background? 2. Is there any difference between the performance of females and educational status of parents? Do family type and structure affect the performance of females? 4. Is there any difference between the performance of female students in well equipped schools and those in ill equipped schools?