Seminar Child Abuse and Academic Performance of Primary School Pupils in Primary Science
Introduction
Child abuse is not a new phenomenon in the history of man. It has been going on right from time. In Africa/Nigerian society what constitute abuse today has never been regarded as abuse. It has been seen as a way of training the child to become a well behaved, disciplined and self actualized person in society. It is a normal process that children from birth be exposed to a variety of experiences from parents, caregivers and other adults in the society. This is to enable the children acquire the necessary basic norms and skills for effective participation in the society where they belong and for their personal growth and development. The process of acquiring these skills is sometimes stressful for the children to bear. Some parents and care givers make the condition for acquiring these skills so difficult that the children may find it difficult to cope. The condition in which children are exposed to as they try to acquire the sills to become disciplined and hardworking individuals is where the problems lies. When these conditions become over-stretched it becomes an abuse.
The Concept of Child Abuse
The terminology child –abuse is a compound word formed from child and abuse. From English definition, child means an infant, one that is very young, a son or a daughter, offspring; and abuse simply means an improper treatment or employment of angry or violent attack in word melted on any one. Psychologically, the term child used to present that developmental state of man encompassing the early stages of development ranging from Neonate (few months after birth), early children (1-2 years), pre-school ages (first to five years and middle childhood (Pre-adolescence).
Contribution of child abuse to learning disorders
It is not surprising that children who have been abused are at significantly increased risk for a host of developmental and psychiatric problems, including internalising problems such as anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and posttraumatic stress disorder, and externalizing problems such as aggression, impulsiveness, delinquency, hyperactivity and substance abuse (Turton, 2008). It has been assumed that many of these problems are the extreme end result of psychological attempts to cope with abuse.
Conclusion
The study concluded that there was a significant influence of level of awareness about child abuse on pupils‟ academic performance. Although the pupils suffered from various types of child abuse, many were unaware that they were being abused. Child abuse was found to significantly influence school attendance because it increased absenteeism among the abused pupils. Child abuse affects pupils‟ behaviour negatively as abused pupils behaved differently and negatively from the non-abused ones. Child abuse affects learning disorders negatively with abused children having learning disorders and performing worse than the non-abused ones.
Recommendation
That parents and caregivers should see beating, hitting, burning etc as physical abuse and not a way of discipline and so should desist from using it on their children under their care.
That abusing the child emotionally may demoralize them and may make them feel that they are of no value in the home as well as in the society.
References
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