Abstract: This study examined School Types and Academic Performance of Pupils in Social Studies in Esit Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The population of the study comprised four eighty (480) primary five pupils in the study area. A sample size of 120 primary five pupils was used for the study. Two research questions where formulated to guide the study. The instrument for data collection was Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT). The data collected for the study were analyzed using independent t-test statistics.
The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The finding revealed that school types, the use of instructional materials and well equipped, school libraries are paramount in improving student’s academic performance in social studies in primary schools. Consequently, it was recommended among others that government should provide equal learning opportunities for both learners in rural and urban schools in terms of teaching-learning facilities to bridge the gap between the performance of pupils in rural and urban primary schools.
School Types and Academic Performance of Pupils in Social Studies
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
It is an indisputable fact that education in Nigeria is as old as the Nigerian society itself. The Western education practiced in Nigeria begins in a formal classroom setting in schools. Accordingly, there are many factors within the educational system which influence the teaching-learning process as well as learner’s academic performance. One of such factors is the characteristics of the school
Omoyemi (2008) noted that some of the factors within the school system that have direct bearing on the teaching-learning process include facilities, availability of qualified and experience teachers among others. It is expected that a well planned school will gear up expected outcomes in academic performance of learners in school. Hence, the effect of school type on the academic performance of learners in school cannot be over emphasized
Ezike (2007) conceptualized school type into urban schools and rural schools. According to the author, urban schools environment are areas which have high population density containing a high variety, beautiful and common place views while the rural schools environment is characterized by low population density containing a low variety and isolated views.
Earlier in his contribution, Lipton (2004) maintained that rural community is characterized by low population subsistence mode of life which is monotonous and burdensome, citing hostels, recreational centers, banks markets and good road network as being present in the urban environment. This according to him explains why highly qualified teachers prefer to serve there in rather than the rural areas.
However, it is obvious that most teachers do not accept posting to rural areas because their conditions are not up to the expected standard as their social life in the area as a result of inadequate amenities, facilities are deficient, playgrounds are without equipment, libraries are without books making a critical analysis of locational factors.
Hallak (2008) submitted that provision of education in rural schools is normally found with some difficulties and problems qualified teachers refuse appointment in isolated villages, villagers refuse to send their children to schools because they are dependent on them for help parents hesitate to entrust their daughters to male teachers, some villagers have few children for an ordinary primary school, lack of roads or satisfactory means of communication makes it difficult to get books and teaching materials to the school which place difficulties in way of organizing school transport among others.
Nevertheless, for quite some time, a general perception of the comparative inferiority of rural schools has prevailed. This view implies the existence of rural-urban differences in pupils academic performance until recently, there has been little empirical evident to challenge this view. Now, however, a growing body of work has begun to examine how well learners perform in schools in urban and rural environment. Although the results are far from conclusive, they do suggest that some generally held beliefs about rural pupil’s academic achievement need review.
This concern about potential rural-urban differences in education outcomes is not limited to Nigerian schools but rather it appears to a global issue. In addition to the problem of societal bias and prejudice against the rural school environment, decayed schools infrastructures painted a black picture on the quality of instruction and the level of academic achievement in such learning environment. Therefore, this study is a step in the right direction.
School Types and Academic Performance of Pupils in Social Studies
1.2 Statement of the problem
Parents and stakeholders in education have condemned the high rate of poor academic performance of pupils in internal and external examination, Cythia and Megan (2008) opine that schools were also involves, reason range from poor teaching personnel and non-availability of school facilities therefore this study would attract attention to whether school types influence academic performance in subjects of social studies in primary schools.
