CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Zangon Kataf Local Government is one of the twenty-three (23) Local Government areas in Kaduna State with the Headquarters in Zonkwa. It is bounded by Kachia Local Government, Jema’a Local Government, Kaura Local Government and Kauru Local Government. Zango Local Government is made up of three (3) chiefdoms are subdivided into 36 districts. Bajju chiefdom has 13 districts within the Atyap chiefdom having 14 districts, while Ikulu/Kamatan chiefdom has nine (9) districts. This investigation on the effects of broken homes on school drop out and the quality of their education in Kaduna State would be concentrated in Government Secondary School Samaru Kataf, Government Secondary School Madakiya, Government Secondary School Wadon, Government Secondary School Fadan Kaje and Government Secondary School Aduwan Gida Areas. The investigation is been carried out to school drop out as it affects the quality of education and the possible solution.
Education for students is of great importance especially in the modern Nigeria society as we live in changing society and a changing world. The drop out of students is because most of the students in the above mentioned schools are faced with a lot of problems as a broken home child because lack of proper handling or proper care by their parents which make most of the students cannot coup with their studies due to lack of proper care by their parents many students in the above mentioned schools have been telling lies to their parents that they are forced to pay some certain amount of money in their schools while it is nor true. Students here have their own effect of the broken home on the academic performance.
However, marriage is the coming together of a man and a woman to live as husband and wife. It is a process where by a man took a woman as a partner to live forever. This process of their staying together is recognized or determined by a contract and agreement. The two (2) couple staying together except by some problems they encountered before they could separate. When they stay within a short time they could be blessed with children and from here development occur in their compound.
There are some obligation that the man have to frame his family which are very important, like wise the wife as a mother in the compound. Here the husband being the head of the family is assigned to certain responsibilities such as feeding, sheltering and others to the family, while the wife being the mother of the family also assigned to perform some task such as taking care of the house hold activities like, cooking, clean the house environment and bathing the children in the home. So also their staying together and performing these duties assigned to both of them is what we call marriage since they are living together with their children.
We have understood the word marriage, now we shall look at the meaning of broken home. Since its meaning came from marriage, broken is a process where by the two couple are no longer living together in unity or as husband and wife. This is because of some conflict arising from them, and most of these problems are caused by lack of understanding between themselves both in social and personal reasons, so when marriage is no longer been as it was right from the initiating time or the two couple have separated it means that the home has broken down.In a nut shell, when these couple separated it brings a total change both in the man, woman and the children they have gotten in their life, and the society in which they live in, with their academic performance. In this field especially the children have no rest of mind with their friends, school and the whole society.
This result to their poor academic performance and also lead to the drop out of the students in most of the colleges. In a situation where the father married another woman and it happened that she did not take proper care by advising, feeding or sponsoring them in the school. This children have to encounter a lot of problems, and more so lead to lack of concentration in the school. Where some of them develop the spirit of stealing, smoking, telling lies etc.
With the above problems of broken home, it will lead to the students dropout from school and also affect the quality of education of a student. The girl-child drop out in school refers to situation that the student is not able to complete his/her education based on the problems of broken home.
Because the children from broken home had lost most of their opportunity such as security, parental care, moral training and face a lot of stresses and tension from the step mother and they encounter problems or frustration wherever they are. The children may grow and become some bad eggs in the society because they did not interact with others to know what is actually going on in the society.Students from broken homes perform poorly in academic situation and easily dropout from the school due to the problems of broken home mentioned above. We see a home under family as the basic unit of a society. This is the most important component of a country. A house is where a family lives. It may be alternated to the word ‘house’ but a house is more appropriately referring to the material structure, whereas ‘home’ refers to the intangible things that bind together the family members. It is the immeasurable love and care that keeps together mother, father and their children.
The family is an essential factor for a human’s whole being, everything about a man, his background, attitude, all of his achievements, his honor and dignity relies on the structure of the family a man live in with. A family is composed of a father, a mother and their offspring’s, bonded by their love for each other.
Broken home is a term used to describe a household, usually in reference to parenting, in which the family unit does not properly function according to accepted societal norms. The concept of broken homes contributed to the falling standard of education in the country. It is based on this premise that this research work dealt with the impact of broken homes and students academic performance in secondary schools in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, Kaduna State.
According to Collins Advanced Dictionary of English, defined home as a family unit. It is composed of the father, mother, children and sometimes with any other members of the extended family, it is a place where one lives with ones family. It is an institution where each member need care, love, comfort, and sense of security. This household might suffer from domestic violence, a dissolved marriage, drug abuse, or anything else that interfere with the upbringing of children. The phrase ‘Broken home’ is more commonly used when either the mother or father is not part of the family due to bad circumstances’, as mentioned above, which makes a child’s upbringing suffer. It is less commonly used for parents who have simple split up, and are still not in contact and on good terms with the child.
However, there are homes that are incomplete in one way or another everywhere in the globe. Death or divorce may be the cause and they may have disastrous effects on a child’s development in other cases the injuries may be insignificant. Judging the situation of a child of ‘broken home’ is never easy. A divorce is often followed by a long period of deep dissention, which certainly means emotional strain and discord. As a rule, a child cannot be protected by this or kept in ignorance of it.
It is obvious, though that on an average, a broken home situation has injurious effects. These seem reason to suppose that dissention in a home increases the risk of phobia and reduces resistance to stress (Sandstrom, 2005). Even so, the way that these children struggle to live a normal life and being used to so many problems somehow bring positive effect to them. They may have developed a character stronger than the others who were given the opportunity to live a normal life. In an ideal atmosphere, children should happily be with their parents, children appreciated the love of their parents towards them, one of the tasks that should be fulfilled by parents is to educate their children because the education of children does not start from school. A home is not the walls of the house but the people also become a house when is not broken. Hemm (1970), broken home means a heroic in which the parents are separated, divorce or are no more by either as a result of death. Children of such homes lack proper care and security. The suffering of such children could be seen in different dimension.
In most cases, adequate parental and affection may not be given to the children properly by the adopted parents that is the guidance. Unfortunately for the children who find themselves in this situation are neglected by their peer groups and society instead of being love and care for however, the present day in Nigeria.
A country is said to be advanced when it is technologically advanced and this goal cannot be achieved it majority of the entire population are not educated. Hence education should be made possible and encouraged by the government of any country, like Nigeria, as it greatly contributed to the development of the national economy. Apparently, education is derived from the Greek word ‘Educere’ which literally means to deduce, extract and to acquire knowledge.
Vole (1973) was of the view that education among its primary task is protection and transmitting the cultural heritage of the young ones by developing the individual into a right human being. Education is the machine or force that emphasizes change or the orientation of individual perception, beliefs, customs, pattern of the thinking and values from time immemorial to date. However education, The traditional and western education. Ever before the coming of the Europeans to Nigeria, a form of indigenous traditional education had been in existence.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE STUDY
The issue of dropout of school students varies from place to place. It has become noticeable that the numbers of students facing some severe psychological difficulties are on the increase, this is as a result of their dropping out from schools in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State as one of the worst hit areas. The issue of dropout and its effect centres mostly on the student emotional being, mental being social and moral being as well as economic being etc. Both those who dropped-out at the junior and senior secondary schools suffer these effects. The dropout and its effects form the whole problem of this research work. In other words the study is on the dropout and its effect among secondary school students in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
If dropout of school is not properly checked or controlled, it will help to perpetrate ignorance in the entire society. The problem of dropout and its effect in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area Kaduna State is a serious cause for serious minded Nigerians in general and in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State in particular. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to specifically:
1. Identify the possible causes of students dropout of secondary schools in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
2. Find out if students dropout of schools leads to emotional disturbances in life.
3. Find out if students drop out of school results to low need for achievement and success.
4. Identify if student drop out of school results to weak desire for responsibility and the dropout and its effect among secondary school students in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In this study, the following research questions were formulated to guide the study;
1. What are the possible causes of dropout in secondary schools in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State?
2. To what extent does students dropout of school lead to emotional disturbance in life?
3. To what extent does students dropout of school result to low need for achievement and success?
4. To what extent does students dropout of school result to weak desire for responsibility and independence?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The finding of this study will be very useful to students, parents, government and the society at large. When teachers are treated well by their employer, they will help to retain students in school. When facilities are provided in schools, it will help to keep students in school. Then students who would have dropped out and join bad gang, will successfully complete their secondary education, then enter into tertiary institution and finally become important person in the society. The parents on their own will benefit from this study as they will know the evils associated with student dropping out of school. The knowledge from this study will encourage parents to strive very hard and see that their children did not drop out from school. The government will also benefit from this study when dropout rate is reduced to almost zero. The money spend on dropout will reduce, there will be reduction on educational wastages. The society at large will benefit from this study if there is drastic reduction in the number of dropouts in our secondary school. This will go a long way to reduce the density of crime in our society. Thus, more lives and property will be saved.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study is limited to investigate students’ dropout of school and its effects among secondary school students in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Research: Is an education finding of fact.
Researcher: Is the person involved in finding facts.
Home: Is the well structured or build house where people live
Marriage: This is the legal union of male and female to live as husband and wife.
Broken: Is the marriage in which the two (2) couple have separated, or are divorced where children lack control and discipline.
Husband: Is the note to which a woman is married with.
Wife: Is a married woman being united to a man as her husband.
School: Is a place of acquiring knowledge.
Dropout: Is to leave something without completing it, that is graduate before the fixed time for graduation due to some problems.
Relationship: Is the similarities that exist between two things.
