FACTORS INFLUENCING POOR EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE IN COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Education is the total process of human learning by which knowledge is imparted, faculties trained and skills developed. Secondary schools not only occupy a strategic place in the educational system in Nigeria, it is also the link between the primary and the university levels of education. According to Asikhai (2010), education at secondary school level is supposed to be the bedrock and the foundation towards higher knowledge in tertiary institutions. It is an investment as well as an instrument that can be used to achieve a more rapid economic, social, political, technological, scientific and cultural development in a country. It is rather unfortunate that the secondary schools today are not measuring up to the standards expected of them. There have been public outcries over the persistently poor performance of secondary school students in public examinations.

According to Nwokocha and Amadike (2005), academic performance of students is the yardstick for testing the educational quality of a nation. Hence, it is expedient to maintain a high performance in internal and mostly external examinations. For some years now, reports on the pages of newspapers and research findings have shown the abysmal performance of students of secondary schools in public examinations. One of the most potent barometers so far, if not the strongest, of measuring school performance of students is through public examinations such as Senior School Certificate Examination (S.S.C.E.) in Nigeria. These examinations are externally moderated and enjoy a lot of public confidence. The form of education children receive aer primary and before tertiary stage is called secondary education. Without secondary school products, it is obvious that the basis for any future academic study cannot be laid. From the aims and objectives of the setting up of schools, one would expect that day and boarding senior secondary school student’s performance would greatly improve. Admittedly, no educational system is problem free.

However, the decay in Nigerian educational system is becoming embarrassing. Ogunsaju (1990) described it as calamitous. Though, brilliant students can be found even in public schools, the high percentage of failure in WASSCE tends to rubbish the good ones among them. Commercial subjects play a fundamental role to the economy and have both private and social benefits. Their importance cannot be overemphasized particularly during the period of globalized economy. Commercial subjects prepare school leavers well to cope with the dynamics of the free trade/market of goods and services. In order to meet the objectives of commercial bias subjects there should be teachers who would make sure that the ball is rolling in the right direction of success. The aim of this research is to therefore investigate the factors influencing poor examination performance in commercial subjects in secondary schools.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The performance of commercial subjects’ students in Nigeria is not encouraging , The high rate of failure has been a source of concern to researchers, educators, government and parents over the past years. Obviously, the great importance that education has on the national development of the country made it so. Research report indicated a consensus of opinion about the fallen standard of education in Nigeria (Adebule, 2004). Parents and government are in total agreement that their investment in education is not yielding the desired dividend. However, the Chief Examiners also reported that candidates’ performance in even in commercial subject is declining and getting worse every year, it is however the aim of the researcher to make research on the factors influencing poor performance of students in commercial subjects in Nigeria