The Link Between School Facilities and Student’s Achievement in Selected Public Secondary Schools

THE LINK BETWEEN SCHOOL FACILITIES AND STUDENT’S ACHIEVEMENT IN SELECTED PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 Background to the Study

Globally, academic institutions do exist in blanks and learning cannot take place institutions where are no adequate facilities. The term facility” refers to the infrastructure that enables an organization or an institution to carry out its day-to-day operations, as well as to foster the members’ personal growth and professional advancement within that organization or institution. In other words, a facility enables an organization or an institution to carry out its mission. As opined by Onyeji, (2017) facility can be used to refer to either the overall atmosphere of a school or the entirety of an organization, or it can be used to refer to the physical and material resources that are made available to students and instructors within a school in order to facilitate the learning and teaching process.

According to Olamide (2020), classrooms, libraries, and research laboratories are the three basic types of facilities that are likely to be present in an educational system or environment.  In terms of the availability of the libraries as one of the school facilities, a great number of our secondary schools do not have any libraries that are operational, and where some libraries can be found, there are no new or current books that are relevant to the current secondary school programs. In addition, a large number of our secondary schools do not have any books that are relevant to the current secondary school curriculum. To put it another way, the accessibility of the libraries in our secondary schools is a concern. In point of fact, the vast majority of secondary schools in Nigeria, and in particular those that are situated in the state of Lagos, do not own any sort of library facilities. It is impossible to appropriately minimize either the relevance of the library or the many different roles that it performs. The teachers and the pupils can substantially profit from the resources that are supplied by the libraries and the books. In light of the fact that our secondary school students have no choice but to use their textbooks as the only source of knowledge, we cannot ignore the possibility that they will be given information that is out of date in old books that were given to us by the British Council a number of years ago and that are typically located in older secondary schools. This is a risk that we cannot ignore.

According to Dada (1994), anyone who is acquainted with secondary school classrooms in Nigeria will agree that no constructive teaching or learning activities can effectively take place in the majority of them. This is a conclusion that can be reached by anyone who has prior experience with secondary school classrooms in Nigeria. This is the case even if instructors are divinely inspired and the students are a coterie of highly evolved beings with exceptional intelligence. The problem is that there are not enough classrooms to accommodate the number of students who need them. As a result, classrooms that were designed to hold between 30 and 40 pupils now have capacity for more than 100 learners. The issue is that in this environment, neither the teacher nor the students are allowed to freely move around the classroom in the manner that is common in classrooms located in British secondary schools. This is the reason why a large number of instructors do not consistently assign homework to the large number of students that are enrolled in their classes. Because of this, the general academic achievement of children has fallen dramatically.

To buttress further,  Olarewaju (2016) observed that  only a small percentage of educational institutions have science laboratories that are adequately stocked to enable students to carry out scientific experiments in subjects such as chemistry, biology, and physics. This is a concern that pertains to the availability of laboratories in schools. Lessons in biology and chemistry are frequently presented at a substantial number of educational institutions as though they are broad courses that do not require any laboratory practice. Some other schools, which are so during, teach the three branches of science without using laboratories in the hope that their students will use laboratories at other schools during their examinations. Alternatively, these schools require students to contribute money to the school’s Parents Teachers Association in order for the school to be able to purchase science equipment. In certain schools, the three scientific disciplines are taught without the use of labs in the expectation that students would take their exams in laboratories provided by other institutions. It has been brought to attention that the topic with the greatest failure rate is science.  This is because our educational system does not offer students with the basic sciences but rather emphasizes the theoretical sciences while neglecting experimental work. The reason for this is that Nigeria educational system according to Olanre (2018) does not equip students with the fundamental sciences. He stated further that the point being made here is not just that the students in our secondary schools have been unfairly handled, but also that the nation as a whole has been unfairly treated. This is due to the facts that no nation can advance its technological capabilities through the theoretical teaching of scientific subjects, that inadequate educational facilities make it impossible for meaningful teaching and learning to take place, and that the common refrain in the educational community is that everything is fine with our secondary schools. In light of these facts, this situation has come about.

Statements of the Problem

It is hard to overestimate the relevance of having appropriate school facilities and amenities to the overall growth and extension of the educational system. This is because it is impossible to overstate the significance of having adequate school facilities and amenities. According to Ikedika (2019), a significant number of the various types of school amenities that are available in Nigeria’s schools are severely lacking. As a result, the process of instructing and learning has the potential to become less difficult and more enjoyable for both the teachers and the students. Many times, there has been a consistent outcry of the inadequate provision or non-provision of the school facilities, specifically the laboratories, the classrooms (buildings), and the libraries, which are the primary school facilities that aid in the process of teaching and learning. In addition, there have been many instances where there has been a consistent outcry of the non-provision of the school facilities. For example, Torty (2018) asserted that due to a lack of necessary equipment in the school, teachers in the science fields find it difficult to experiment and carry out practical teaching in the school, and the resultant effect is that many students are unable to learn the concepts that they are being taught in the classroom. Torty’s argument was based on the observation that teachers in the science fields find it difficult to experiment and carry out practical teaching in the school due to a lack of necessary equipment. Because the school did not have sufficient classrooms or libraries to satisfy the requirements of its students, the students’ overall academic performance in both art and science classes continued to worsen from one year to the next. This is because teachers are unable to make efficient use of the instructional materials available to them in order to present their courses in a manner that is both comprehensive and conducive to increased student comprehension. Although there are several studies on school resources and student achievement, the study seeks to examine the relation between school facilities and student academic performance in public secondary school. In point of fact, the lack of availability or poor supply of school facilities in our secondary schools was the impetus for the inquiry that led to the creation of this study.

 Objectives  of the Study

The major purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between school facilities and students’ academic performance in selected secondary school. Other objectives of the study include:

i.          To find out whether physical facilities like classroom significantly correlates to students’ learning outcome.

ii.        To determine whether adequate provision of libraries influences  student academic achievement.

iii.      To ascertain whether availability of  school laboratories  is associated to student high academic performance.

. Research Hypothesis

These research questions were raised for the study.

HO1:  Physical facilities like classroom does not significantly correlates to students’ learning outcome.

HO2: Availability of school laboratories  is not associated to student high academic performance.

 Significant of the Study

It is hoped that students will benefit from this study because they would be able to have proper insight and understanding that non provision of infrastructures in the secondary schools will adversely affect their academic performance. To teachers it is hoped  that through the study, they will come to terms with the fact that the provision of adequate infrastructures will help both students and teachers to facilitate the teaching and learning processes. The school authorities would utilize the findings and recommendations of this study to find solution to the problem of inadequate provision of infrastructures in our secondary schools. They would through this study understand better the effect of inadequate provision of infrastructures in our schools, on the teachers work performance and the academic performance of students. The study would be of benefit to parents because it will enable them to understand the effect of inadequate infrastructures on academic and work performance of both students and teachers. With the finding and recommendations of this study parents would help the school authorities to find lasting solutions to the problem of inadequate provision of infrastructures in our schools.The society will benefit from the study because when there is adequate provision of infrastructure in the schools teachers would work better to produce better crop of students for the society.

Scope  of the Study

The  scope of  this study borders on the link  between school facilities and student’s achievement  in selected public secondary schools. The study will further discuss whether physical facilities like spacious classroom would significantly influence learning out come as well as if school laboratories  is not associated to student high academic performance. The study is however delimited to selected secondary schools Akwa south local government Area in Anambra State.

Limitation of the study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering only secondary schools in  secondary schools Akwa south local government Area in Anambra State. Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other secondary school within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.