The Impact of Cultism on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students: a Case Study of Badore Senior Secondary School, Etiosa Local Government
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of study
The main purpose of this study is to find out The impact of Cultism on the academic performance of secondary school Students, a case study of Badore senior secondary school. The study is specifically set out to achieve the following objectives
- Reason students in Secondary Schoolsjoin cults.
- Investigate the effects of this social problem in the student’s academic performances.
- The extent to which Studentsare involved in cultism.
- Determine strategies for eradicating or minimizing it in Secondary Schools.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Framework
Concept of Cultism
It has never been easy to give a comprehensive definition of the term ‘Cult’. This is because the term cultism could be applied to a wide range of groups and could convey different meaning by different users. Okwu (2006) cited Denga (1991) where the author defined cultism as a system of religious belief and practices or ideology. Also, Orukpe (1998) noted that ‘Cults are a group of people who share and propagate peculiar secret beliefs divulged only to Member’.
Occultism or possession of mystical power is often associated with cults. The veracity of this is difficult to ascertain because of their secret modus operandi. Cult can be seen as a group of people that are devoted to a particular cause. In real sense cult per se is not evil, it is rather the anti-societal behaviour of its members that make it to be evil and a cause of concern to society.
According to the Free Encyclopedia (2010), the literal and traditional meaning of the word ‘Cult’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Cultus’ meaning ‘Care’ or ‘Adoration’. To the sociologist of religion, the term is used to describe ‘a loosely knit organization not characterized by tolerance and open mindedness in matter of belief and practice, while in the media and everyday conversion the word suggests a spurious, secretive, sinister and harmful group’ (Albatross , 2006). Lalich and Langone (2006) made the following remarks about the behaviour of cultists – the group displays excessively zealous and unquestionable commitment to its leader and regards his belief system, ideology and practices as the truth. The authors noted that questioning, doubts and dissents are discouraged or even punished.
Rotimi (2005) asserted that the secret cult phenomenon is not new in Africa. Citing Aguda (1997), the author observed that activities of secret cults, like ‘Human Leopards’ and ‘Human crocodiles’, have been recorded in Central Africa. Furthermore in citing Thomas (2002), the author stated that cultist groups enjoy subtle support and patronage from both government and school authorities. Cult members were sometimes used by politicians for revenge and for setting personal scores. He went on to state that in some cases, past members who had migrated to foreign countries some times remitted money to support their former cult groups.
Campus Cultism
Cultism is an anti-social behaviour which is a deviant act. It is at variance with the established norms of behaviour. It is a non-conforming behaviour which usually contravenes the social rules of an institution in particular and the society in general. In spite of the negative consequences of cultism, it still thrives. Literature showed that secret societies have a mode of operation and behaviour by which they can identify as not only groups but secret groups.
According to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Enactment) Decree 1978 … “A secret society means a cultural or association, not being solely secret signs, oaths, rites or symbols whose meetings are under oath, obligation to promote the interest of its members or to aid one another under all circumstances without due regard to merit, fair play or justice, to the detriment of the legitimate expectation of those who are not members.” The nature of secret cults is as much practicable shrouded in secrecy by members. This fact was appreciated by Nwanze (1991 and 1994). They observed that they all shared one thing in common. They operated secretly and their activities and sign were decidedly esoteric to the uninitiated.
Evidence by the leader of the society and also the 1st accused, which was corroborated by that of nine other prosecuting witnesses, explained how the meeting venue of the society was made inaccessible to non-members thereby concealing the nature of the meeting. Admission of new of the members was through a written application. The applications are normally destroyed at initiation for security reasons.
Hierarchy in operation and responsibility is strongly adhered to. The leader of the fraternity is called a “Body Guard”. The member who performs the initiation is called “Bishop”. There are advisers called “Consiglory”. Rules and regulations are enforced down the line. The initiation venue is called “House” is out of knowledge of new members and no two new members know themselves and they do not know the old members except the one receiving the application from the new member who also introduce the new initiate to the society. At the appropriate time of 11.00 pm on the initiation day, the new initiates are taken to the venue of the initiation. As they approach the venue, they are blindfolded using their shirts, and their backs becoming bare.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
The data collected from the study were presented and analyzed. These were done according to each research question.
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Discussion Of Findings
The main aim of this study was to find out The impact of Cultism on the academic performance of secondary school Students, a case study of Badore senior secondary school. Etiosa local government. To obtain the necessary data the researcher had to first review some related literature on cultism, drawn up questionnaire which were completed by the Students, lecturers and principal.
Simple random sample and sampling techniques to select 50 Students, 30 teachers and 20 principal to which all of them responded. In order to carry out the study effectively, the researcher analyzed the collected data by using their mean value and it was observed from the findings that the current wave of cultism in Secondary Schools were widely distributed to corruption in the society influence from parents who belong to secret society, in born trait of being sadist, broken homes and the fact that those caught in cultic activities are not prosecuted consequently, cultism was discovered to be very common in Secondary Schools. This was based on the fact that most of this Secondary Schools Students are in their adolescent age or about to enter adult age, it was observed that most of the Students misbehavior starts from adolescent age, when not curtailed pose a great challenge to the nation and its entire economy. Furthermore , the effect resulting from this which include destruction of lives and properties of Students and the school, engaging in armed robbery, prostitution etc to meet up with their extravagant lifestyle, contraction of diseases, decline in academic performance increase in examination malpractice and arrest , detention and imprisonment of those involved in it . The above effects have increased lawless education in our country. In addition, some corrective measured used by institutions like suspension and expulsion have yielded negative or no result. Hence measures like guidance and counseling, establishment of tribunal to try cultist, monitoring and counseling by parents and workshops should be organized during orientation are considered more effective.
CONCLUSION
The study discovered that cultism among the Students of Secondary Schools is real and urgent solution is needed to be taken by the government and institution at large to curb it. The parents must work closely with the institutions authority to arrive at a lasting solution and. More importantly, counseling services in tertiary institution should be taken seriously and counselors have a major role to play towards helping to implement the programme for the reduction of the incidence of cultism in Secondary Schools. It was therefore concluded that the following were the cause of cultism in tertiary institution, they are corruption in the society, broken homes, inborn trait of being sadist, not persecuting those who are caught in cultist activities and influence from parents who belong to secret cults. It can be concluded that the following were the effects of cultism on the Students at large. They include increase in crimes like armed robbery and prostitution etc, spread of diseases, decline in academic performance of cultist, increase in examination malpractice, destruction of lives and properties, drug abuse, arrest, detention and imprisonment. The following were the suggested solution to cultism school or institution authority should organize workshops during orientation of new Students to enlighten them on the dangers of cultism, every institution should have department of guidance and counseling in order to guide and counsel the Students. Also necessary support and encouragement should be provided to this department in terms of finance and materials and.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the finding from the data collected from the research. The researcher has come up with the following recommendation so that the cause of cultism can be minimized. The research is of the opinion that cultism among Students in Secondary Schools in Nigeria could be minimized by introducing programmes in the television, radio and other awareness programme such as workshop and seminars designed to enlightened the Students on the implications and the danger of joining secret cults. Guidance and counselor should be posted to every tertiary institution in Nigeria with the duty of counseling the Students and staff only. These counselors should report systematically cases of unexplained and unjustified advances of Students to female or male lectures, and that of lectures to Students. The institution administrators should maintain adequate inspection, supervision and monitoring the staff and Students on cultism. There should be forum where the Students and lectures should discuss the issues of cultism. Parents should train their children in moral and try to meet their needs. They should check the company their children keep and counsel them regularly.
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