THE ROLE OF PARENTAL STATUS IN THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY OF SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOL, IN OREDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

From birth to age eighteen children spend just a fraction of their lives in school. Thus it is not surprising that many factors outside the school environment can significantly influence students prospects for academic success in schools. These factors (parental status) is in play both during the years before children begin formal schooling and while they are actually enrolled in elementary and secondary school. a diverse array of issues, including parents beliefs and expectations about education, the availability and quality of child care, family economic status, the persistence, or absence, of violence in a child life, access to social services, physical and mental health issues, opportunities for constructive, healthy activities outside of school; and the nature and strength of school community connections, can make a dierence in a child’s opportunities to do well in school. A commonly used phrase but one that has the ring of substantial truth is that parents are their children’s first teachers. Parents beliefs expectations and attitudes about education and their children’s achievement have a profound early impact on students conceptions of the place of education in their lives. What parents think about the importance (or unimportance) of doing well in school is often mirrored in students results. A study into some selected schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State found that nearly all students (97%) who earned mostly A’s and B’s on their report cards reported that their parents encouraged them to do well in school. among students who earned mostly C’s nearly half (49%) said they received little parental encouragement. Some families clearly have more resources to devote to their children and can move easily find time to spend nurturing and encouraging them.

When both parents work can increasingly common phenomenon or when a child is being raised by a single parent, finding time to read to the child to encourage the completion of homework. Many children grow up in home with an abundance of fiscal and materials resources. But not all do. Poverty takes a tool on student’s school performance. Poor children are twice as likely as their more affluent counterparts to repeat a grade to be suspended, expelled or drop out of high school and to be placed in special education classes. Family composition and economic circumstances are often intertwined. More than half of the poor families are headed by an unmarried mother who must balance employment issues (these women are often trapped in love – wage jobs) with child care and parenting responsibilities. In sum, children from more economically affluent home circumstances have a leg up in many areas of life, including education. This research shows that despite the compelling importance of robust physical and mental health to students prospects for academic success, not surprisingly access to quality services is often a function of family income. The less financially stable the child’s family the less likely the child is to have regular medical care. Children covered by health insurance are more likely to have better access to health care than children not covered by such insurance. Uninsured students are under significant risks factors particularly for adolescent, are drugs, and alcohol drinking, smoking cigarettes and using harder drugs, from marijuana to cocaine can cause substantial long term physical and mental health problems, in the short term use of many of these substance can cause reduced school attendance and general in attention to school studies.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

Having gotten a good understanding of the parental status in the academic performance of the students, it will be of great importance to precisely and with concise examine the statement of the problem. This study is aimed at investigating the role of parental status among some selected secondary school students academic performance in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. However, the researcher will investigate this study in the following capacity. To identify the various problems faced by the students due to their parental status that causes most of them to dropout of school, performing so low in academic works and engaging in social vises.