CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Facility means the system which supports the operation of an organisation or an institution to carry its daily activities and to promote growth and development in such organisation or institution.

Facility refers to the entire environment of the school or an organisation, it refers to both the physical and material resources available to the students and teachers in the school to facilitate the learning - teaching process. The classrooms; the libraries and the laboratories for sciences are the three main areas of facilities identified in the school system or environment (Onyeji, 2000)

Yeloye (2002) states that in terms of the availability of the libraries as one of the school facilities, a great many of our secondary schools have no functional libraries, and where some libraries are found, there are no new or current books that are relevant to the current secondary school programmes. In effect there are no library facilities in most of the secondary schools in Nigeria, especially in Lagos State.

The importance and uses of the library cannot be under-rated. Libraries and books give great assistance to both the teachers and the learners. In a situation whereby our secondary school students are left with no choice to make their text books as the only source of knowledge, the danger of exposing them to obsolete knowledge in old books donated by the British Council several years ago as one normally finds in the old secondary schools should not be overlooked. According to Dada (2004), any one who is familiar with secondary school classrooms in Nigeria, especially in Lagos State, will agree that no meaningful teaching/learning activities can effectively take place in most of them, even if teachers are God-sent and the learners are celetial pack of highly intelligent personalities, the problem is that where there are classrooms, they are overcrowded to the extent that rooms originally meant for between 30 and 40 students, take between 60 and 80 students with a good number of them sitting on windows. In this situation, neither the teacher nor the students can move freely as expected in our secondary school classrooms. This is why many teachers do not give assignments to such large number of students regularly as expected. And this has affected students academic performance drastically.

On science laboraories, Olarewaju (2004) claims that only few schools have science laboratories which are well equipped to carry out scientific experiments in courses such as biology, physics, and chemistry. A good number of schools teach biology or chemistry as if they are non-science subjects without laboratory. Some other schools teach the three branches of science without laboratories in the hope that they would use other schools’ laboratories during their examinations or compel students to contribute money for purchase of science equipment through the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA). It should be noted that the greatest failure rate is in the sciences because our schools lack the essential science materials but rather, resort to the theoretical science without the use of laboratory. The contention is that the nation has been unfair not only to students in our secondary schools but also to herself. This s because no nation can develop technologically through theoretical teaching of science subjects, under poor educational facilities, no meaningful teaching and learning can take place, and the normal refrain in the educational circle is that all is well with our secondary schools.

Statement of the Problem

The importance of school facilities or amenities in the development and growth of the educational sector cannot be overemphasized. Many schools in Nigeria today do not have certain school facilities that can make teaching and learning to be easier and enjoyable to both the teachers and the students.

Often times, there has been a constant outcry of the inadequate provision or non-provision of the school facilities, especially, the laboratories, the classrooms (buildings) and the libraries which are the main school facilities that aid teaching and learning, for example due to lack of necessary equipment in the school, teachers in the science fields find it difficult to experiment and carryout practical teaching in the school, and the resultant effect is that most science students fail their science related subjects in the external and internal examinations.

Due to lack of provision of libraries, and sufficient classrooms in the school, year after year, the academic performance of students both in arts and science courses continue to go down. This is because the teachers are not able to utilise the instructional materials to present their teaching thoroughly for the better understanding by the students. Infact the inadequate provision or the non-availability of school facilities in our secondary schools is what prompted the investigation of this study.

Purpose of the Study

The major purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school facilities and students’ academic performance in selected secondary school in Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State. Other objectives of the study include:

(1)         To find out whether there is relationship between school facilities and students’ academic performance.

(2)         To find out whether there is no adequate provision of facilities in our secondary schools.

(3)         To identify the causes of inadequate provision of school facilities in our secondary schools.

(4)         To proffer solutions to the problems of inadequate provision of facilities in the secondary schools.

Research Questions

These research questions were raised for the study.

(1)         Is there any relationship between school facilities and students’ academic performance?

(2)         Are the facilities in our secondary schools adequate or inadequate?

(3)         What are  the causes of inadequate provision of facilities in our schools?

(4)         How can the problem of inadequate facilities in the schools be solved?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated for the study:

(1)         There will be no significant relationship between facilities and students academic performance in the schools.

(2)         There will be no significant difference between the academic performance of students who attend schools where there are facilities and those whose schools do not have facilities.

Significant of the Study

This study will be beneficial to the following people:

It is hoped that students will benefit from this study because they would be able to have proper insight and understanding that non provision of infrastructure in the secondary schools will adversely affect their academic performance.

Teachers, it is hoped, would, through the study come to terms with the fact that the provision of adequate infrastructure will help both students and teachers to facilitate the teaching and learning processes.

The school authorities would utilize the findings and recommendations of this study to find solution to the problem of inadequate provision of infrastructure in our secondary schools. They would through this study understand better the effect of inadequate provision of infrastructures in our schools, on the teachers work performance and the academic performance of students.

It would be of benefit to parents because it will enable them to understand the effect of inadequate infrastructure on academic and work performance of both students and teachers. With the finding and recommendations of this study parents would help the school authorities to find lasting solutions to the problem of inadequate provision of infrastructures in our schools.

The society will benefit from the study because when there is adequate provision of infrastructure in the schools teachers would work better to produce better crop of students for the society.

Scope of the Study

The study covered the relationship between school facilities and students academic performance in Shomolu Local Government area of Lagos State. Sourcing of good materials for literature review and other information collection posed a hindrance to the study.

Definition of Terms

School Facilities: It refers to both the physical and material resources available to the students and teachers in the school to facilitate the learning and teaching processes.

School Resources: These are the total inputs into an educational programme in term of human efforts, funds, facilities, equipment and others.

Academic Performance: This is regarded as the knowledge attained or skill shown in the school subject such achievement are indicated by test scores or by marks assigned by the teachers.