This project focuses on the Influence of Home Environment on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students. (A Case Study of Enugu North Local Government Area, Enugu State). The need for this project is to determine the extent the home influences the academic performance of student in some selected secondary schools in Enugu North Local Government Area. Based on this, it has been observe that study will also consider to what extent the socio-economic status of the home provides visual aids for meaningful education advancement. Also it intends to find out ways of offering suggestions to parents and government likely on how the home will be assisted to guide and counsel the less privileged students and teachers in Enugu North Local Government Area to facilitate better academics. In addition, this research work will examine the relationship between parents literacy level, their attitudes towards Enugu North customs and belief which may be reviewed if the student will ever scale through the modern challenges of formal education. It also examines briefly whether the relationship between the child and parents affects the academic performance of the child in the secondary school. However, the study was restricted to Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State. To collect the data, a set of questionnaire was designed and administered to a sample of respondents which the whole copies were completed and returned, representing 100 percent response rate.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page - - - - - - - - i

Approval Page- - - - - - - - ii

Certification - - - - - - - - iii

Dedication - - - - - - - - iv

Acknowledgement - - - - - - - v

Table of Contents - - - - - - - vi

List of Tables - - - - - - - - viii Abstract - - - - - - - - - ix

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study - - - - - 1

1.2 Statement of the Problems - - - 4

1.3 Purpose of the Study - - - - 9

1.4 Significance of the Study - - - - - 10

1.5 Scope of the Study- - - - - - 11

1.6 Research Questions - - - - - - 12

1.7 Definition of Terms- - - - - - 13

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction - - - - - - - 15

2.2 Early childhood and its influence on

academic performance - - - - - 15

2.3 The influence of parents on the educational progress

of the child. - - - - - - - 17

2.4 Inheritance from national endowment of parents 18

2.5 Socio economic status of parents - - - 19

2.6 Marital status of parents- - - - - 20

2.7 Relationship between the child and the parents 22

CHAPTER THREE:RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Research Design - - - - - - - 25

3.2 Area of the Study - - - - - - 25

3.3 Population of Study- - - - - - 25

3.4 Sources of Data - - - - - - 27

3.5 Sample and Sampling Technique - - - 27

3.6 Instruments for Data Collection - - - 29

3.7 Validation of the Instrument - - - - 30

3.8 Reliability of the Instrument - - - - 31

3.9 Method of the Data Analysis - - - - 32

CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Presentation of Data and Data Analysis - - 33

4.2 Discussion of Findings - - - - - 42

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary of Finding - - - - - - - 45

Conclusion - - - - - - - 46

Limitation of the study - - - - - 47

Suggestion for further studies - - - - - 48

Recommendation - - - - - - 48

REFERENCES - - - - - - - - 50

APPENDIX - - - - - - - 52

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, research question and definition of terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

This work focuses on the influence of home environment on the academic performance of secondary school student in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State. The topic can be analyzed by first knowing what the concept “Environment” is all about. Therefore a brief touch on the meaning is very necessary. However, it is logical to start with the question, what is environment.

Environment according to oxford Advanced Dictionary is the natural conditions like land, air and water in which plant and animal live and also circumstances affecting their lifes. Environment can be physical or psychological. Physical environment deals with material aspect such as infrastructure, availability of resources and facilities. The psychological environment includes the home, school community and significance of other people in our lives such as parent, peers and siblings. The quality of home is very significant, some have a history or tradition of formal education and modern influences while others are not so well equipped. The resources, facilities in both type home will influence the learning ability of children born into the home. Studies have shown that if a child live in an impoverished environment for the first four years of life, the child is likely to be low in ability of learning and lose as may as he would have learnt.

According to Ada Rose N and Onyemaechi J. 2009, 160, learning environment is one of the most essential elements in education through teaching and learning. The role of the physical, social, psychological and organizational environments are of immense relevance in educational process. Educational policy makes so much concern for effective quality of learning environment. The environment may be a classroom, a meeting place, hall, club house, village square, open place, community learning centre or the wider society.

They further emphasized that the environment is expected to have essential physical facilities appropriate social working conditions (i.e. conducive interpersonal relations), informal setting and conducive organizational setting for effective participation of the learners. Knowles (2005) pointed out that the aspect of the environment which all theorists consider very important for effective learning is the richness and accessibility of resources (human and physical material).

James O. E (2008) Non-formal education (home) is the first enduring environment for preparation and readiness for school work in the child. The influence of home in readiness for formal education cannot be overemphasized, for this reason; the quality of home environment has a greater influence to the Childs effective participation in formal education setting. It is the family which first exposes a child to educational aids and recreational activities. The role of parents contributes a lot to the academic achievement of their children in school. It is assumed that students from home that have interest in education tends to perform excellently in their subject areas. This is because they are motivated and encourage by their parent’s commitment to their academic performance and social development. Thus, home is the primary factor that determines the Childs academic development and growth. Home is widely assured to provide a conducive atmosphere that will help the child in learning process.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In this topic, the problem is aimed on knowing how the environment of the home affects the performance of students in secondary level. The secondary schools mostly concerned are ones in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State where research are made. It is a fact that the homes have much effect on student as it is the first place where a child gets all the informal education before the formal one. The way a child responds to activities in the home will determine whether he will be sharp or lazy in school. Also most parents are much more in pursuance of money and economic goal than the care of their children. Such parents are unable or refuse to provide the basic needs of the child and it affects the Childs academic performance in school negatively. Some of these basic needs of students are reading materials like textbooks, note books, mathematical set, four figure table and so on. When parents cannot provide their children with these basic reading materials, a child who is growing up in an educationally sound environment may be affected academically. This is because the profession of his or her siblings tends to sharpen his attitude towards life and towards a particular profession. The level of enlightenment of either the parent or guardians has a great role to play in shaping his/her academic exposure of the child. Children whose parents are not for high intelligence quotient are bound to inherit such traits through genetic transfer and such children are some times referred to as a chip of the old block.

This project topic made a very interesting research in an area where there are disparities in the level of socio economic attainment existing among the various homes especially in highly urbanized areas. In the case of Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State, the level of socio-economic development of its inhabitants is under-developed. This makes it increasingly difficult for one to differentiate between homes. Example, over seventy percent (70%) of the inhabitant of this area are either peasant farmers or petty traders who are less exposed to electricity that would have aided to acquisition and utilization of radio set, television and other audio visual aids. The level of literacy generally among these parents is still very low. These constraints do not in any way increase the exposure of the child’s informal acquisition of knowledge.

In this content, therefore it is assumed that the children are brought up under a uniform environmental setting at home for this would have given room for a sort of detailed comparative analysis. This is unlike the case of children brought up in urban area where there are lots of audio-visual aids that can help the child at home. In conclusion, it could be said, apart from differences in the child’s academic performances as a result of his natural endowment, his comprehension, assimilation and digestion of knowledge capabilities over the years, there has been alarm on the fallen standard of education in Nigeria. Many conflicting views have been expressed by various authorities as the factor that are responsible for this poor standard of academic performance of secondary school students while some blame the poor performance on the government’s inadequacy in fulfilling on its obligations towards education. Others maintained that teachers are responsible for this state of affairs in the educational sector. The trust of the project is to critically examine and analyze the affect of home background on the academic performance of secondary school students. Though effort has been made in the past to carry out this research in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State, but now, this work seek to investigate on how the role played by the home directly or indirectly affects the students academic performance. To investigate this therefore the following question is considered:

1. What is the mystery surrounding the disparities in the performance of student from different homes, learning under the same school environment?

2. Does the socio-economic status of the home have any considerable influence on student’s academic performance?

3. What effect does the learning environment has on the educational achievement of students?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

This study aims to find out and to determine the extent the home influences the academic performance of student in some selected secondary schools in Enugu North Local Government Area. The study will look into the socio-economic status of the home and find out whether it has any considerable influence on the student academic performance. It will also find out to what extent the homes influences the educational foundation given to the student during the formative years of their formal education.

The study will also consider to what extent the socio-economic status of the home provides visual aids for meaningful education advancement. Also it intends to find out ways of offering suggestions to parents and government likely on how the home will be assisted to guide and counsel the less privileged students and teachers in Enugu North Local Government Area to facilitate better academics. In addition, this research work will examine the relationship between parents literacy level, their attitudes towards Enugu North customs and belief which may be reviewed if the student will ever scale through the modern challenges of formal education. It also examines briefly whether the relationship between the child and parents affects the academic performance of the child in the secondary school.

1.4 Significance of the Study

This study is going to be significant in many ways and to many people. It will make a good contribution in dealing with problems arising from home in relation to education. It will help the school policy makers to find out the effect of the home on the performance of students in secondary schools. The findings will also be a benefit to both teachers and guidance counselors in their respective planning for instance, establishing a relationship between the academic qualifications of parents, marital set up of home, parents and child relationship and the performance of students.

The study will go a long way to letting the authorities concerned to be aware of the effects of socio-economic background on the student’s academic performance.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This research work on the influence of the home background on the academic performance of students is carried out in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State. There are twenty registered secondary school in the local Government Area. However as a result of time factor, finance and transport constraints, the research could only be made not in all the secondary school of the Local Government Area.

Consequently, ten (10) secondary schools were sampled, were there is beliefs of getting authentic data for the project.

Names of the schools in the area covered

1. Coal Camp Secondary School Enugu.

2. Uwani Secondary School

3. Iva-vally comprehensive Secondary school

4. Government technical college Enugu

5. Government secondary school Enugu

6. Collary secondary School Enugu

7. urban Girls Secondary School

8. City Girls Secondary School

9. H.R.C Enugu

10. C.I.C Boys Secondary school

1.6 Research Questions

The research questions to be answered in the study are:

1. Does the socio-economic status of the parents influence the child’s education?

2. Do children from polygamous home perform better academically than those from monogamous homes in secondary schools?

3. Does the level of academic status of parents affects the degree of the academic performance of the student child.

4. Do children from stable homes perform well than those from broken homes?

5. Does the learning environment affect the academic of children?

1.7 Definition of Terms

The following key word or group of words have their dictionary definitions and must also have been defined by various authorities but for the purpose of this work they have been defined as follows:

1. Home: Where the child the parent or guardian live and from where the child set out to and from school.

2. Academic Performance: Records of the students work at school in all his examination

3. Normal Home: A home where the child’s parents are living together.

4. Socio-economic Status: Rich home or poor home.

5. Broken Home: A home where the child’s parents are not living together as a result of formal divorce.

6. Polygamous:Having more than one wife at a time.

7. Monogamous: Having only one wife at a time.