Effect of Housing Conditions on Students’ Academic Performance
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
To examine the effect of housing conditions on students’ academic performance.
To examine the condition of the housing units available to Nigerian students.
To determine the factors affecting the academic performance of students.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
There is a general notion that students who live in decent housing units within or around their university have a better chance of exceling academically. So much so that a lot of tertiary institutions in and outside Nigeria make it compulsory for first year and final year students to live on campus.
Academic performance here is defined as the level to which a student has achieved their educational goals. A lot of educators believe that there should be close proximity between a student’s living and learning environment in order to produce all-rounders that are socially integrated and mentally sound. However, the lack of decent housing for students within and outside campus means that a lot of these students are left to their devices and have to settle for whatever is available. The population of students admitted into Nigerian universities has seen a significant increase over the years. A case in point is UNILAG with a student population of 58,000 but has only 8000 bed spaces available. So, you passed the first major hurdle of gaining admission into one of the top tertiary institutions in Nigeria, but you now have to worry about where you will reside. This undue pressure is not a great start to the semester and students may end up struggling to keep up with their school work whilst looking for adequate accommodation. The appropriate authorities have done very little to curb this issue and students end up paying a high price for this. It is widely believed that availability of decent housing units significantly reduces the risks of students dropping out and are more capable of achieving high level of academic performance.
Despite this common perception, it is difficult to categorically attribute a student’s bad academic performance to his housing situation due to various reasons such as his socio-economic status it could however, to a large extent contribute to it
Bad Housing
Housing is a basic need and fundamental human right of every individual. In Nigeria, the struggle to get decent housing at a reasonable cost is a constant issue faced by the citizens and the same can be said for students.
Some of the factors that influence the choice of a student’s accommodation are adequate security, availability of electricity and clean water, toilet facilities and a peaceful environment, proximity to campus and the fees. Whilst some students prefer off campus accommodation due to privacy and better facilities albeit at a costly price, others prefer a cheaper, housing on campus that is close to their lecture halls.
Bad housing covers a wide range of issues including:
- Overcrowding
- Poor Physical Condition
- Inadequate security
- Poor Facilities
Whilst this is a simple definition, it does not give the full picture. The World Health Organisation (1989) provided recommendations that housing should be situated in a setting which has adequate commercial, social, religious, educational, welfare and health facilities.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to effect of housing condition on students’ academic performance
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on the study effect of housing condition on students’ academic performance. 200 students of selected secondary schools in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on Effect of housing condition on students’ academic performance. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of housing condition on students’ academic performance
Summary
This study was on Effect of housing condition on students’ academic performance. Three objectives were raised which included: To examine the effect of housing conditions on students’ academic performance, to examine the condition of the housing units available to Nigerian students and to determine the factors affecting academic performance of students. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 students of selected schools in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made sss 3 students, sss 2 students, sss 1 students and jss3 students were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
This study has been largely explorative and demonstrative how the effects of students’ housing on academic performance can be appropriately assessed by combining the viewpoints of housing experts and school authorities into a composite neighbourhood quality index of students housing. Very significant findings were made in concerning the impact of the effects of housing on students’ social life in the twenty first century’s global urbanization in Nigeria. The challenges of students housing or accommodation in tertiary institutions in the country should be the concern of the entire society. Since student population is an integral part of the society, co-ordinated efforts and results oriented solutions should be taken into consideration while tackling the problems. The university can explore ways of increasing the number of bed spaces available in the halls of residence by directly building additional blocks to the existing ones
Recommendation
The schools management should include health education in their curriculum to sensitize students especially in rural areas general and personal hygiene. The Ministry of Education and Sports should develop basic requirements and minimum basic requirements and minimum standards for boarding schools and disseminate them to all schools and ensure that they are implemented. This would improve on the accommodation for students in rural schools.
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