THE INFLUENCE OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
THE STUDY’S BACKGROUND
Education is a tool for social, mental, and economic development that instills the right values and attitudes for proper development. Child abuse and its consequences, defined as unjust treatment of a child, disrupt this development process.
It is a practice in which children are abused and denied basic needs at home and at school. The proverb “the child is the father of the man” acknowledges that the quality of today’s child determines the quality of tomorrow’s man.
This study was prompted by the researchers’ dismay at the large number of school-age children roaming the streets during school hours. They hawk goods, wash cars, beg for food, and engage in other activities that deprive children of their right to an education.
Aside from that, they are dispatched to hawk on a daily basis and warned not to return with unsold goods. Girls turned to promiscuity, and boys turned to stealing to make up for money owed to their mistresses or masters, as the case may be. Some people are killed in this process, and others may run into cars while crossing the street.
Truly, the country’s current economic hardship is a fascination, and thus child abuse. In this situation, the child’s education suffers as a result of the nation’s economic downturn. Many students work as part-time hawkers and pushers of wheelbarrows and car washes to help pay their school fees. While others provide food and clothing for the family, As a result of this abusive condition, the cumulative impact of these activities may result in poor academic performance.
The result of this child abuse and its consequences is examination malpractice to compensate for academic deficiencies caused by a failure to attend school on a regular basis and devote time to class activities.
A child is thus defined as a boy or a girl of any age between infancy and adolescence. However, for legal reasons, a child is assigned a specific age range.
According to Eigbe (1996), a child in Nigeria’s southern states is someone aged 0 to 14 years, and a child in the northern states is someone aged 0 to 12 years.
Child abuse is defined as any type of physical or mental injury or maltreatment of a child. The definition of child abuse has been greatly expanded to include more than just beaten and sexually abused children. It includes any condition that is harmful to a child’s physical or emotional health that has been inflicted by parents, teachers, or other caregivers, as well as classmates.
The situation should be one of intentional infliction of injuries other than accidental means, such as suffering, harm from consequences, malnutrition, and sexual abuse of a child growing up in a situation that threatens his or her survival. Due to the difficulties associated with the concept’s definition, as well as the cross-cultural global issue of what is and is not child abuse, definitive knowledge of the nature and scope of child abuse appears to be lacking.
In a Western context, child abuse refers to various mistreatments of children, particularly those relating to specific responsibilities such as “child labor” in the form of “farm work” or street hawking, which many children in African cultural content engage in as an acquired work rule in an extended family system.
Children are among the most vulnerable and vulnerable people. They should not be harmed or maltreated in any way because they are incapable of understanding the dangers they face and the negative effects ill treatment has on their future development.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Egor Local Government Area has witnessed child abuse and its consequences, as well as its devastating effect on child development. This becomes clear when one considers the treatment meted out to children as a result of a broken home and parental neglect.
The following are some examples of child abuse and its consequences:
a. Inadequate care for children by parents and guardians in terms of basic needs provision.
b. Deprivation of certain children’s rights, both at home and at school.
c. Child hawking as a form of prostitution
d. Child abduction or death as a result of hawking
e. Exposure to the risk of death or bodily harm as a result of kidnapping
f. Child exploitation in a variety of workplaces.
THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE
The findings of this study will allow parents and guardians to have an alternative method of child rearing with child abuse. As the study’s findings become more widely known, there will be an increase in the number of children enrolled in school.
The study will also assist educational personnel in understanding what constitutes child abuse and its consequences (such as working on the teacher’s farm during school hours, sex abuse by senior students, a lack of teaching materials, and so on), as well as where and how to begin combating it. This research will also help the government understand the various types of child abuse that exist in Egor Local Government Area and how to combat them.
QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH
The study was guided by the following research questions:
a. What is considered child abuse?
b. What are the root causes of child abuse?
c. What effect does child abuse have on the academic performance of the children involved?
d. What measures can be taken to prevent child abuse?
Furthermore, the same act defines a maltreated child as a child under the age of 18 who has been abandoned by his parents or other legally responsible persons for his care. Acts of omission and/or commission in schools, government, and the cultural community He went on to say that neglect would include a lack of school supplies, as well as malnutrition.
Instead of envying the Nigerian child because he is forced to witness greed, corruption, painlessness, truancy, dishonesty, theft, brutality, and hunger as a way of life.
This is true because, for example, in Nigeria, people are so preoccupied with chasing money that it has a self-perpetuating force and effect. So they know where it is and can begin combating it. It will assist the government in determining the types of child abuse prevalent in the Egor local government area and how to combat them.
THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
The study’s findings will provide parents and guardians with the knowledge and skills to thoroughly study their children in order to know their right from their left. As the study’s findings become known to the general public, there will be an increase in the number of children enrolled in schools.
The study will also assist educational personnel in understanding what constitutes child abuse and neglect (such as working on the teachers’ farm during school hours), hours sex abuse by senior students, and a lack of teaching materials, among other things.
THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE
The scope of this study is limited to the impact of child abuse and its consequences on the educational performance of students in some selected secondary schools in Edo State’s Egor Local Government Area.
TERMS DEFINITION
This study is limited to determining the impact of child abuse on student education development in a few selected secondary schools.
During this study, the following terms were used.
Definition of child abuse neglect: This is due to the fact that a social concept such as child abuse always reflects a value that borders on human nature and value.
Child abuse is defined as the maltreatment of a child by his parents or guardians, which causes the child to suffer harm or neglect due to a lack of basic physical care. Child abuse is defined as the deprivation of child care to a child, which disrupts his development sequence.
Truancy is a problem in many places today, and it is caused by some of the cases listed below. Truancy can easily lead to a child dropping out of school.
1. A good and plentiful conducive learning environment.
2. incorporates enjoyable activities into the school curriculum
3. A good and high-quality interaction between peers and colleagues.
4. Inclusion of scholarships in school curriculum classes students will be overburdened.
5. by allowing activities on school grounds to be legalized
6. Who has disciplines at all levels of administration and all the way down to the students.
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THE INFLUENCE OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SOME SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS