Factors Affecting Academic Performance of Grade 7 Students in UEP Laboratory
High School in New Normal.
I. Context and Rationale Background of the study
Education is one of the aspects that is affected when pandemic comes. Education is
one of the most important aspects of human resource development. The students
‘performance plays an important role in producing best quality graduates who will
become great leaders and manpower for the country thus responsible for the country’s
economic and social development. Academic achievement is one of the major factors
considered by employers in hiring workers especially for the fresh graduates. Thus,
students have to put the greatest effort in their study to obtain good grades and to
prepare themselves for future opportunities in their career at the same time to fulfil the
employer’s demand. Academic Performance determines whether the students will
proceed to University for higher degree or be able to secure a teaching job. Students’
performance also determines quality of education that will be passing to the students
by the potential teachers at primary and secondary school levels. Poor performance in
Colleges of Education spells doom for the students whose life becomes uncertain and
full of misery. Students’ academic performance is affected by several factors which
include students’ learning skills, parental back ground, peer influence, teachers’ quality,
learning infrastructure among others. Government efforts to improve academic
performance have led to series of interventions like scholarship, training of the lecturers,
providing of infrastructure and so on. Yet, academic performance in the Colleges of
Education in Nigeria is on the decline going by the low quality of teachers turning out
every year.
Alos et al. (2015) greatly emphasized the importance of having qualified teachers in the
field of teaching, and said thatsuccess of any program is conditioned by the ability of
the teacher to teach. If there is failure at this point, the wholestructure fails. Hence, the
implementation,selection, preparation and supervision of education will be affected.
Moreover, Dewett (2007) mentioned that good teachers are constantly on the alert for
methods and instructionalmaterials that will make learning meaningful. With the wise
selection and use of a variety of instructional materials or audio-visual materials,
experiences may be provided to develop understanding. Education system in Nigeria
has been in crisis for many years largely due to the fact that the sector is poorly funded.
This has led to shortage supply of learning materials and human resources being
experienced in the system. Inadequate qualified teachers, high turnover rate of
teachers, shortage of classroom, and poor remuneration of teachers and a host of other
problems abound in the education sector. The economic crisis experienced in Nigeria
impacted on the education system and had played a major role in the decline of the
quality of Education offered in the country (Olabiyi and Abayomi 2010). Meanwhile, the
future of every nation depends largely on the fate of every child that is born into her;
most especially those that are privileged to go through the academic walls of the nation
starting from the primary level of education to the tertiary institution.Education is an
important industry for social, political and economic development and is being affected
by the environment within which it exists (Adediran, Ojomo & Adeyanju, 2015).Hence,
national development has been founded by those who are experts in their areas of
specialization, and this would not have been imaginable without the instrumentality of
the educational system. Every countryendeavours to provide quality education for its
people. This problem, as a phenomenon, calls for intensive investigation to know the
root causes of this poor academic performance in UEP Laboratory High School. This
research was conducted to identify the factors that are affecting the academic
performance of students UEP Laboratory High School which would help in providing
suggestions that would promote a better academic performance in the study area and at
large.
II. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following questions was adopted to the action research of Oladebinu
Tokunbo Olufemi1 Amos Adekunle Adediran (Ph.D) 1 and Dr. W.O.
Oyediran2 titled FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE IN OF EDUCATION IN SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA
1. What are the personal characteristics of the Grade 7 students in UEP
Laboratory High School?
2. Does the parental background and home-related issues affect academic
performance of Grade 7 students in UEP Laboratory High School?
3. Does the teachers’ effectiveness affect academic performance of Grade 7
students in UEP Laboratory High School?
4. Does availability of instructional materials contribute to academic
performance of Grade 7 students in UEP Laboratory High School?
5. Does reading habits of the students affect academic performance of
Grade 7 students in UEP Laboratory High School?
III. Proposed Innovation and Strategy
