TABLE
OF CONTENTS
TITLE
PAGE I
APPROVAL
PAGE II
CERTIFICATION
III
DEDICATION IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V
TABLE
OF CONTENTS VI
ABSTRACT IX
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study 1
Statement
of the Problem 6
Purpose
of the Study 7
Research
Questions 7
Research
Hypothesis 8
Significance
of the Study 8
Scope
of the Study 9
CHAPTER
TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Conceptual
Framework 10
Theoretical
Framework- 30
Empirical
Studies 33
Summary
of the Literature Reviewed 42
CHAPTER
THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research
Design 46
Area
of Study 46
Population
of the Study 47
Sample
and Sampling Techniques 48
Instrument
for Data Collection 48
Validation
of the Instruments ‘ 48
Reliability
of the Instrument 49
Method
of Data Collection 49
Method
of Data Analysis 50
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 51
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF
FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Discussion of Findings 54
Conclusion 56
Educational Implication 56
Recommendations 57
Limitation of the Study 58
Suggestions
for Future Study 58
Summary
of the study
59
References 60
Appendix (questionnaire) 62
Abstract
The main aim of this study is to find
out the influence of teachers’ strike action on the academic performance of
secondary school students in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State. Three specific
purposes and three corresponding research questions were raised to guide the
study. The literatures related to this study were reviewed under conceptual
framework, theoretical and empirical studies. The research design adopted for
this study was survey design. The population of the study comprised 11,041
students and 24 secondary schools in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Simple random sampling technique was used to select 200 secondary school. Students were selected from the selected five
schools for the sampling. The instrument used to obtain information was a
structured questionnaire. The instrument used was validated by two experts from
the department of measurement and evaluation in Godfrey Okoye University Enugu.
The test-retest reliability procedure was adopted. The reliability index was 0.75.
The data collected were analyzed using mean. Therefore, the findings of the
study showed that strike action delays
students learning and strike action delays completion of academic calendar. Based
on the findings, the researcher recommended that the government should stop
using threats to the teachers as a solution to strike action rather they should
use dialogue to bring a lasting solution
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
Could there be any meaningful transformation programme, structural adjustment programme and many point agenda in the absence of education imperative in a country? Education, the process that involves all round development of cognitive, psychomotor and affective ability of individuals in the society in order to promote the advancement of the individuals, society and the world at large should not be relegated to the background in whatever manner. The cacophony between the central authority and the staff unions should not be extended to the point of jeopardizing the success of our education system which will in turn have undesirable effects on the academic achievement of the students. Bearing in mind, no nation can develop beyond the capacity of her citizens. Staff industrial actions in Nigeria University, Polytechnic and College of Education systems have become the common phenomenon with the detrimental effects on the academic commitment and success of Nigeria students.
Despite the fact that tongue and mouth are inseparable, clash between the two is inevitable. As long as the academic staff union and employer (government) represented by politicians are at variance in belief and philosophy there is bound to be industrial dispute between the two. The action and counteraction of the academic staff union (ASUU, ASUP and COEASU) in recent years to recalcitrant attitude of the federal government towards the past agreement; conditions of service, salaries and allowances, adequate funding as prescribed by UNESCO, University autonomy, integration of polytechnic academic staff payroll had led to frequent industrial action by COEASU, ASUP and specifically ASUU. These unions have resulted to employment of strike as the last resort to balance the power between their staff and the government when the bargaining and consultation failed to yield desirable result. Implying that the only language understands by the government is strike action. The counteraction of the academic staff unions to actions and inaction of the government is not self centered but incited by the quest to resuscitate the acclaimed fall in Nigeria education standard. The specific evidence to this fact are the agitation by ASUU and ASUP between 2013 and 2014 which includes improvement and provision of educational infrastructure in our dilapidated tertiary instructions; fulfilling 26% budgetary allocation to education as prescribed
by UNESCO so that
Nigeria education system would be able to turn out the graduates that are
capable of taking up the task of national development and be globally
competitive like in the 70’s when Nigeria graduates were accorded high esteem
at the global stage.
Furthermore,
it is incontrovertible that agitations of academic staff unions are to foster
the adequate conditions of service which would go a long way in stimulating
advantageous atmosphere for students to accomplish the prerequisite curriculum
objectives. And, this would reduce to the barest minimum if not to zero level
the half-baked graduates or functional illiterates that Nigeria tertiary
institutions are turning out lately. Unfortunately, the strike action
that is always embarked
upon by the staff unions whenever there is industrial dispute between them and
their employer (government) always put students at the detrimental conditions.
The reasons for this are not farfetched; they end up having lesser period to prepare
for academic exercises before summative evaluation hence possibility of poor
academic performance. After the whole struggle, the academic staff salaries and
allowances that were withhold during the industrial action would end up being
paid.Aside the bad reputation the strikes conferred on Nigeria education
system; delayed and extension of duration of students in school in the face of
age sensitive or discriminating Nigeria labour market which plummet the
economic value of the graduates in Nigeria labour market. And, unjust
compression of the syllabus and academic calendar which deprived students of
adequate academic
preparation and eventually have undesirable effects on the students achievement
of educational objectives as laid down in the prescribed curriculum which paved
way for the production of half baked graduates by Nigerian institutions is of great concern to the study
at hand. In view of this, the specific objective of this investigative study is
to the influence of teacher’s strike on
educational system. Student’s go to school daily with happiness, expectations
stress and ambition only to be turned back by the school authority because of strike.
This study is to investigate the influence of teacher’s strike on academic
performance of secondary school students.
Eregha (2001) have expressed his views
on the Probable Caused, and solutions have been suggested. The percentage of
repeated occurrence of strike has become the concern of parents, psychologist
and social workers and all is anxious to eliminate it. The irregular payment of
teacher’s salaries by government, which began in November 1981, which led to a
strike action, by teacher’s, demoralized and frustrated the teacher’s. The
effect of this was seen in the teacher’s borrowing money for feeding with the
hope of getting paid in a short time. This ugly situation persisted until teachers
became the laughing stock of everyone. From an oral interview carried out by
me, it
was seen that many of the teacher’s became Professionals because
according to the teacher’s, they could no longer depend on teaching alone for
their survival instead of depending on a job which will not bring positive
reward at the end of the month, many took to farming, fishing, trading etc in
addition to the teaching job.
The action (strike) usually poses a lot of negative effects
on the student’s. This is because the period that should have been used to
teach the student’s is spent at home all in the name of strike. This makes it
impossible to cover the syllabus and at the end of the day the student’s come
out of school with lesser knowledge than they ought to have acquired, thereby
making it very hard for them to compete with their counterparts that finished
from private schools. Parents are also not left out why did I say so? Because when they see their children at home
during the period of strike, they tend to be unhappy and very uncomfortable. Basically,
the influence of teachers strike on
academic performance of student can limit the knowledge of students. Educational
system in udi Local Government Area of Enugu State is adverse and cannot be
ignored because it is evident in the kind of products that graduate from our
schools these days.
In this vein, there is the need to reduce strike and its effect to improve on the teaching-learning outcomes in our schools.
INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS STRIKE ACTION ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN UDI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE
