The Affectations of Cult Activities on the Academic Performance of Senior Secondary School Students in Mission Schools in Jos North L.G.A. Of Plateau State
Chapter One
PURPOSE OF STUDY
The main focus of this study is to examine the various kinds of cult activities and their influences on secondary school students’ academic performance in mission schools in Jos North’s local government area of Plateau State. Specifically, the study is set to achieve the following objectives.
- To identify the prevalent cult activities in mission secondary schools.
- To identify the causes of secondary school students’ involvement in cult practices.
- To examine how cult activities affect the academic performance of secondary school students in mission schools.
- To sensitize students on the affectations of cultism on their academic performance.
- To suggest possible ways of curbing the occurrences of cult activities in mission schools in Jos North.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The review of literature focuses on the following sub-headings; origin of cultism, concept of cultism in our schools, litany of havocs of cultism in our schools and societies, causes of cultism in our schools, effects of cultism on students in mission secondary schools, concept of performance, cult activities and students’ performance, empirical studies on cult activities and summary of literature review.
THE ORIGIN OF CULTISM
Cultism according to Tokura (1997) includes the activities of secret cults or societies that are very rampant in our institutions of learning today. The founding fathers of such societies do not have the mind of carrying out evils but as a pressure group that can monitor and defend the interest of the immorality of students’ populace without violence. But the activities of the various cults seen today in our institutions are far from the above reasons. The cult members have constituted themselves into gangs of “never-do-well” set of people. Their mission today is to loot, kill, steal and destroy lives and properties at will. The violence associated with cult members is reported to be as a result of battles for supremacy among them. Cult members have constituted themselves into a big cog in the wheel of Nigeria’s education development. Indeed, the growth and maturation of examination malpractice tendencies in our secondary tertiary institutions have been considered as one of the direct fallouts of cultism.
Uzorma (1998) posited that by 1984, when Soyinka initiated the abolition of the Pirates Confraternity in all tertiary institutions, the phenomenon of violence had developed a life of its own. By the mid-1980s, reports had it that some of the cults have been co-opted by elements in the intelligence and security services serving the military government such that they were used as foils to the left-wing student unions which, along with university teachers, were among the only remaining bastions of opposition to military rule.
According to Uzorma (1998) the emergence of campus cults as they are known in Nigeria today began with a split in the Pirates Confraternity during the early 1970s when a breakaway group formed the Buccaneers Confraternity followed by the emergence of the Black Axe or the Neo-Black Movement.
Inter-group rivalry then set in, even though skirmishes between them were limited to fist fights. The 1980s saw the multiplication of cults in the more than 300 tertiary institutions across Nigeria as new groups such as the Eiye, Vikings, Amazons and Jezebel emerged, bringing with them more intensely violent rivalry.
The phenomenon of campus cults in Nigeria according to Okolf (2007) dated back to 1952, when Wole Soyinka winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize for Literature and a group of friends at the University of Ibadan formed the Pirates Confraternity with the motto “Against all Conventions”. The skull and cross bones were their insignia, cultivating a bohemian style that ridiculed the colonial attitudes mode of dress of the day. The fraternity, a non-violent body, became established in all the tertiary institutions that emerged in post-independence Nigeria.
CONCEPT OF CULTISM
Mars (1990) described cultism as a group whose membership is intensively devoted to a particular goal or leader and whose unusual life style or peculiar attitudes and behaviours separate its members from society as a whole. According to Mars, a “cult” is a “body or organized group of activists or believers who have involved themselves in a spiritual or social movement in opposition to the clear and direct word of God”.
Texe and Marrs (1990) noted that most of the new age cults and religions are shrouded in secrecy, the inner teachings are kept from the majority and initiates must proceed through a number of steps or degrees of initiations in order to become illumined, wise or divine.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODS AND PROCEDURE
This chapter discusses research design, population and sample, sampling technique, instrument for data collection, validity and reliability of instrument; method of data collection and method of data analysis.
RESEARCH DESIGN
This study by the nature of its primary purpose, investigating the influence of cult activities on the academic performance of senior secondary students in mission schools is a descriptive survey research. Therefore, the researcher adopted a cross sectional survey design. In a cross sectional survey research design the researcher selects and studies a representative sample from a target large population at a particular time with the aim of making generalization and this is the case in the present research work.
This is because the study seeks the opinion of large population-school principals, teachers and students whose opinions are sought on the influence of cult activities on the academic performance of senior secondary school students in mission schools in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
POPULATION AND SAMPLE
Population of the Study
The population for the study consists of all the mission secondary schools and all the students as well as the principals and teachers in mission secondary schools in Jos North Local Government Area. There are 13 Mission Secondary Schools in Jos North Local Government with a total population of 7091 students, 13 principals and 200 teachers. This number is made up of 3091 male and 4000 female students. The students are from heterogeneous social and religious background.
The distribution of Mission Secondary Schools in Jos North LGA is as shown in table1.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the results and findings of the study in line with the research questions and hypotheses formulated for the study using the respondents’ responses on the questionnaire distributed.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter consists of the summary of the findings, conclusion and recommendations in the light of the outcome of this study- geared towards examining the affectations of activities on the academic performance of secondary school students in mission schools with the aim proffering solutions to the problem cultism amongst secondary school students.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The study investigated the affectations of cult activities on the academic performance of secondary schools in Jos North Local Government of Plateau state, using students, teachers and principles as its subjects of observation and analysis. The study examined opinions, feelings, interest and attitude of the respondents.
Based on the problem, purpose and significance of the of the study five research questions and three hypotheses were constructed and analyzed through questionnaires administered to the students and teachers and principle in the five missions secondary school in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau state.
The major statistical techniques that were employed for data analysis in this study were the response mean score for the research questions and chi-square for testing the hypotheses samples. The data for the study were collected by the researcher using the five scale likert structured questionnaire forms which were distributed and collected via on the spot method.
Results obtained showed that;
- Molestation, killing as well as destruction of properties, drug use, raping, and maiming are the prevalent cult activities of cult members in mission secondary schools.
- Peer pressure among other factors contribute to the of students’ involvement in cult practices in mission secondary schools.
- Cult activities have negative influence on the academic performance such that students who members of cult groups have no regard to academic activities like attending classes, reading and doing assignment, also, students who involved themselves in cult practices were found to perform poorly at every school examination.
- Effective teaching and learning of CRK, Civic and Moral Education, adequate and proper guidance and counseling services and regular orientations and public speeches on the affectations of cultism are ways of sensitizing students on the affectations of cult activities on their academic performance.
- Regular sensitization of the students on the affectations of cultism, creation of awareness by religious bodies, parents playing their roles well, setting up of special committee to deal with cult cases in schools, punishment such as 21 years imprisonment or outright expulsion of students who are found to be cult members as well as intensive teaching and learning of Religious and Moral Education and establishment of effective counseling units are ways of curbing cult practices in schools.
- Students’ gender and their involvement in cult activities are not significantly related.
- Students’ awareness and their involvement in cult activities are not significantly related.
- There is significant relationship between academic performance and cult activities in the mission secondary schools.
CONCLUSION
From the findings of this study, it was discovered that different forms of cult activities are prevalent in mission secondary schools in Jos North. Many students were already involved in this antisocial behavior and except some urgent measures are taken to curb the affectations of cult activities on the academic performance students in mission secondary schools; the educational goal and objectives of the proprietress of such schools will remain unattainable. The findings of this study revealed that cult activities have diverse negative effects on the academic performance of secondary school students and thus should not be left in the hands of the school authorities to handle. This implies that all hands must be on desk to stop this phenomenon, the government, school authorities, students, parents and all other stakeholders in education should stand against cult practices in mission secondary schools.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In recognition of the negative effects of cult practices on the academic performance of secondary school students in mission schools, the following consequent upon the findings of this study are recommendations made by the researcher towards effective curbing of cult activities in mission.
- It was observed that molestation, killing as well as destruction of properties, drug use, raping, and maiming are the prevalent in mission secondary schools, hence it is recommended that perpetrators of these should be thorough prosecuted and punished, they should be expelled from school or convicted of 21 years imprisonment by the school authorities.
- It was observed that peer pressure among other factors contribute mostly to the of students’ involvement in cult practices in mission secondary schools hence it is recommended that awareness should be created by religious bodies and school authorities about the affectations of cult practices so as to help students understand the inherent dangers associated with cult practices and thus be able to desist from friends who may likely lure them to cultism.
- Observation was also made that cult activities have negative influence on the academic performance of students; hence it is recommended that students should be regularly and adequately sensitized by the school authorities about the affectations of cult activities on their academic performance and that counseling services should be made available in our secondary schools more than ever. To help students understand the reason of their being in school.
- It was also observed that effective teaching and learning of CRK, Civic and Moral Education, adequate and proper guidance and counseling services and regular orientations and public speeches on the affectations of cultism are ways of sensitizing students on the affectations of cult activities on their academic performance, hence it is recommended that the school authorities should ensure that teaching and learning of CRK, Guidance and Counseling, Civic and Moral Education should be intensified and made compulsory for every student in mission secondary schools. This implies that more trained teachers who specialized in these subjects should be employed.
- It was also revealed that cult practices in mission secondary school can be curbed by regular sensitization of the students on the affectations of cultism, creation of awareness by religious bodies, parents playing their roles well, setting up of special committee to deal with cult cases in schools, punishment such as 21 years imprisonment or outright expulsion of students among others, hence it is recommended that the fight against cult practices in mission secondary schools should not be left in the hands of school authorities only; the government, parents, religious bodies, students and other stakeholders should together play their roles to see that cultism in mission secondary schools is curbed or totally eradicated.
- The results of the study also showed that students’ gender and their involvement in cult activities are not significantly related; hence it is recommended that the school authorities, parents and religious bodies should avoid gender segregation in dealing with cultism in schools.
- The study also revealed that students’ awareness and their involvement in cult activities are not significantly related, hence it is recommended that schools authorities and religious bodies should not rely on creating awareness as a way of curbing cult activities in schools rather they should employ other ways like punishment such as 21 years imprisonment or outright expulsion of students among others.
- Finally, it was also revealed that there is significant relationship between academic performance and cult activities in the mission secondary schools; hence it is recommended that parents, schools authorities, religious bodies and other stakeholders should not relent in their fight against cultism and cult activities in mission secondary schools.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Unwillingness of the respondents to participate in this research work by cooperating with the researcher in the area of filling and returning the questionnaire forms was one of the limitations encountered in the study. This affected the timely collection of data and consequently slowed down the pace of the researcher in concluding the research process. The researcher however, was patience enough as she kept rescheduling time to ensure that she meets the respondents at their own convenient time.
Secondly, the researcher encountered difficulties in the area of materials for review of literature as most materials from the internet were not related to the topic under investigation.
SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES
The following topics are hereby suggested for other researchers to carry out research on;
- The influence of cultism on the academic progress of secondary schools students.
- Causes and effects of cult activities on the academics performance of senior secondary schools.
- The affectations of cult activities on the teaching of Christian Religious Knowledge in mission secondary schools.
- The affectations of cult activities and the academics performance of secondary students in Christian Religious Knowledge.
CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE
This study has revealed that cult practices which were thought to be peculiar only to tertiary institutions like universities, colleges of education, polytechnics and so on also exist in secondary schools. It has made parents and other stakeholders to know that the issue of cultism and cult activities is also becoming a source of concern in secondary schools even in mission schools. Through the study, stakeholders has come to realize that cult activities has become prevalent in mission secondary schools and that such activities are harmful to students academic performance. It is therefore addition knowledge to parents, school authorities, students and all stakeholders in education who wouldn’t have known that cult practices had encroached into secondary schools and even in mission secondary schools.
REFERENCES
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- Abang, G.D. (2007). Effective teaching and learning of CRK as an approach to curbing cultism in secondary schools. Unpublished article of ECWA Theological Seminary, Jos.
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- Amaele, S.O. (2013). The menace of cultism in secondary schools in Nigeria. Unpublished M.A. dissertation of University of Jos.
- Amarachukwu, G. E. (1997). Secret societies in Nigeria. A Christian perspective. Unpublished M.A. dissertation of University of Jos.
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