POVERTY’S IMPACT ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
THE STUDY’S BACKGROUND
Education is the process by which a person acquires skills, competencies, and attitudes. Every child has the right to an education, whether traditional or western. As a result, education has been regarded as culture to man, people, and nations around the world. This explains why man is required to educate his offspring in society.
Poverty is one of the factors that prevents a person from fully completing his educational activities. A universally accepted definition of poverty cannot be reached due to the various perceptions and complexities of the term. However, the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2000) defines poverty as “the state of being poor.”
Poverty, according to Oguw Mike (2005), is a way of life marked by low calorie intake, inaccessibility to adequate health facilities, a low quality education system, a low life expectancy, unemployment, and under-employment. According to Leroy and Symes (2001), poverty is a major risk factor.
When relating the concept of poverty to Nigeria, it will thus be considered in a broader sense, implying that it has been viewed from various perspectives, including one national state and home background. At the national level, a country is considered poor when its economic standard is very low, which automatically qualifies the country as underdeveloped.
A country’s economy that has not reached a certain level of development in terms of infrastructure and other development indicators. When we speak of poverty at the family level, we are referring to the home environment. Even before indigenous or western education, the home has always been the agency through which man learns various aspects of life in order to live a meaningful life in his environment.
The home, also known as the traditional method of educating children, is still regarded as a child’s first school before entering the larger society.
The importance of the home cannot be overstated because general assumptions that poverty in the family or home goes a long way to determining the extent of youth or student educational development. Many people believe that education is the way out of poverty.
There is no doubt that education is the most powerful tool for alleviating and eventually eliminating poverty. To be specific, when considering the effect of poverty on student academic performance, the home environment is the most important phenomenon that must be seriously considered in order to improve the effectiveness of the study of the relationship between poverty and student academic performance.
In light of this, some factors in the home or family background that must be considered are parents’ academic qualifications, socioeconomic class, and facilities available in the home or home environment, as well as parent status.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Evidence suggests that the number of people living in poverty in Nigeria has risen year after year. When the government took power in 1999, it was estimated that more than 70% of Nigerians were impoverished. In recent years, there has been a debate in the minds of people about whether the poor status of any society or nation, even family, can truly have an impact on a student’s educational performance.
In light of this, the study will look into the positive and negative effects of poverty on student education in Nigeria. This is due to the diversity of world poverty by various scholars who have used it in their course of study and how it has affected the students’ learning and performance in their educational development.
Goldstem (1976) acknowledged this concept when he stated that because much of youth educational development occurs in a circle or at home, the child begins to attend school in psychological tourism, an attempt would be made to determine the influence of parent’s socioeconomic performance and the impact of poverty on students education.
There is a group that believes the poor have a right to assistance based on group solidarity. According to Oijkstra (1984), the extended family system in Africa addresses community poverty issues.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The study’s goal is to look into the impact of poverty on students’ academic performance in Nigeria, with a focus on a few secondary schools in the Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State. The purpose of the study is to determine whether or not students in the country can be affected by the country’s economic standards.
The study also attempts to determine the extent to which any community’s standard of living can influence students’ education in that community. Some teachers are surprised when it comes to evaluating the performance of some students.
These teachers may discover that a specific student in class is performing extremely poorly despite the use of all kinds of skills in carrying out an effective teaching and learning process that is extremely well.
This research will also make possible recommendations for enhancing or improving the student’s academic performance by identifying poverty-relief strategies. For example, by introducing the British welfare legislative system and providing housing, transportation, feeding, sickness benefits, clothing, and other necessities to low-income families.
THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
This study is significant when considering the concept of poverty and the three different factors that influence students’ educational needs at the national, community, and family levels. It is hoped that the study identified some of the important factors that exist at various levels and influence students’ performance. The research will provide recommendations for how to improve students’ academic performance.
The level of literacy can also influence economic enterprise performance. This is why the African tradition emphasizes lifelong education as a process of acquiring various types of literacy, such as cultural, political, and religious literacy, in order to live a meaningful and effective life.
The study will also emphasize the importance of the government involving parents in student planning. This is because parents are the most familiar with the environment in which their children will learn at home, as well as other variables that influence their performance. The study also reveals that poverty has become a serious issue in Nigeria. Despite its oil wealth, Nigeria has become one of the world’s poorest countries.
This life span is limited, and there are social, political, and economic challenges. Begging has become a way of life for many people who now live on the streets. The crime rate is on the rise, with an increase in violence, fraud, and armed robbery. One approach to addressing poverty is to implement policies that promote equitable resource distribution.
According to Henner Hilder Brand (1994), the process of alleviation may extend beyond the acquisition of literacy and the implementation of income-generating efforts. He appears to be implying that the solution to poverty would be people’s decisions and policies.
The poor’s living conditions also indicate a lack of economic, cultural, political, and social participation opportunities. In order to be effective in the long run, the living conditions of the fight against poverty should consequently focus on eliminating the deficits mentioned.
QUESTION FOR RESEARCH
The following have been developed to serve as a guide in the conduct of the investigation for the proper examination of this study.
1. What effect do environmental factors have on student academic performance?
2. To what extent does a country’s economic status influence its students’ academic performance?
3. Does the parent’s socioeconomic status influence academic performance?
4. Does your parent’s educational background influence your academic performance?
5. Does a lack of equipment, such as textbooks, have an impact on academic performance?
THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE
This study is limited to a few secondary schools in Edo State’s Owan East Local Government Area.
TERMS DEFINITION
Poverty is defined as a lack of basic human necessities such as clean water, nutrition, health care, education, shelter, transportation, and so on. Poverty is defined as the inability of people or individuals to meet their basic needs.
Family: A family is a social group that consists of a father, a mother, and children. In this work, family can be defined as a man, his wife or wives, and children.
Academic achievement/performance: This is how students can perform academically. It also refers to the grades or scores obtained by students in various school examinations. It could be high academic performance, indicating a pass, or low academic performance, indicating a failure.
Home Environment: This is the environment in which the students live. In this study, it refers to the adequate facilities provided by the home for students. It could be a radio, a sleeping area, a television, or a reading room, whether or not it is conducive to learning.
Poverty Alleviation: The act of alleviating poverty. It refers to when the problem of poverty is resolved in this course of study.
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POVERTY’S IMPACT ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE