THE IMPACT OF OVERPOPULATION ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

THE IMPACT OF OVERPOPULATION ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

CHAPITER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 THE STUDY’S CONTEXT

The number of school-age children is growing far more quickly than the number of schools as the population increases. Classroom overcrowding is a result of the decline of honorable institutions and the selfishness of school administrators. Many parents worry about sending their kids to schools where they are made to sit in small spaces with no room for chairs or tables (Picta, 2019).

Citizens’ lives are greatly shaped by their education in the areas where they live. The school or learning environment must be conducive for learning to occur successfully; in other words, a conducive environment supports students’ academic performance and clears the way for learning. The classroom is the core of any educational institution. Planning any curriculum must include implementation and evolution, both of which predominantly occur in the classroom. The majority of class activities take place with students seated. Evidently, the seating arrangement is simply too important to be ignored, as it frequently is in secondary schools around the nation. When there are more students than seats available in a classroom, the seating arrangements become complicated (Ahmed, 2017).

An place, community, or society is considered to be overcrowded when the resources or facilities on hand cannot support the population. When the number of pupils enrolled in a school system exceeds the resources allotted to that school, it is said to be overcrowded in educational settings or school systems. One of them is infrastructure, which includes things like buildings and ICT. Performance in education refers to a student’s capacity to satisfy a particular set of requirements. The term “student performance” is used to describe what is produced or accomplished by students as a result of their learning. Planning for education in Nigeria has always been viewed in terms of quantitative growth, which is typically bigger than the financial capacity of the government (Adesina, 2000). For instance, the current 6-3-3-4 educational system has been badly hindered by a lack of appropriate resources and insufficient training. Physical facilities have gotten much less attention from the federal and state governments despite the fact that they have recently shown a sincere commitment to educational expansion through their annual budgetary contributions to education. The issue of classroom overcrowding affects both teachers and students. Teachers occasionally struggle to keep track of a dozen kids due to erratic conduct and excessive chit-chatting.

They will lose it if they are required to supervise more than 30 students at once alongside these same instructors. It makes a simple task like taking attendance challenging. Particularly for teenagers who have difficulty adhering to rules and obeying commands. On the other side, some students find it difficult to concentrate when there are other students around. Failure rates increase in crowded classes because students can’t concentrate on the task at hand. Children who are not engaged in learning are just one of the problems this generates in classrooms. To address this problem and create an educational environment that motivates students to reach better standards of accomplishment, government intervention is necessary. Education is viewed as a means of reaching excellence and influencing national development in Nigeria today. In order to accomplish some of its national objectives, the government has adopted a national education policy. Secondary education should emphasize preparing students for a productive life in society and preparing them for higher education (NPE, 1981, p. 16); nevertheless, if secondary school students’ current poor performance continues, these goals may not be attained. Because the teacher cannot spend as much time with each student due to overcrowding in the classroom, this diminishes teaching efficacy and increases teacher workload. Teachers are able to better solve each student’s problems and aid in their understanding of the subject when they have more time to spend with them individually, which leads to more effective instruction.

Overcrowding has a negative impact on academic accomplishment, which is the best legacy a country can give its citizens, especially young people. Education is the best legacy a nation can leave its citizens. This is because the advancement of any country or community depends greatly on the caliber of its educational system. It is widely believed that the foundation for any significant advancement must begin with the development of human resources, much like it is asserted that formal education continues to be the means of socio-economic growth and social mobilization in any community. Higher education in Nigeria faces various challenges, and the causes of those challenges are complex because they affect not only the school environment but also broader societal issues. A big number of students are enrolled in higher education as a result of the desire to be educated. Children’s academic performance is negatively impacted by overcrowding in schools since there aren’t enough facilities for effective teaching and learning.

This usually always indicates that more students were admitted than the school could staff with teachers and materials. In a study, the effects of a teacher on a population in higher education would be emphasized and briefly explained. The researcher also takes all required steps to offer a remedy to the overpopulation issue in Nigerian educational institutions. In order to gather information for the study’s conclusion, people will be interviewed and a questionnaire will be employed. The purpose of this study is to ascertain how overcrowding affects the academic performance of secondary school pupils at Comprehensive Secondary School, Four Towns Uyo. It is distressing to find that students’ academic performance is unimpressive despite the government’s best efforts to provide a high-quality education. Overpopulation has been cited as one of several explanations for this.

In their book, An Introduction to Business Economics, Olowo-Onyanemi et al. (2003) define overpopulation as a situation when the population of a country exceeds the resources that can support it, such as land. Nwena (2000) asserts that overpopulation happens when there are more people living in an area than there are resources to support them. Because metropolitan schools must be enormous, Obi (2005) wrote on page 143 of Philosophical Foundations of Education that there is frequently a serious overcrowding control issue. It is a well-known fact that overcrowding impairs efficient instruction and superior school management. Due to inadequate infrastructure, especially classrooms, the growth in secondary school enrollment has had a substantial impact on students’ learning processes. Poor academic performance has been caused by overcrowding, which has transformed the learning environment in schools into a playground.

SITUATION OF THE PROBLEM

The number of students enrolled in urban secondary schools has grown recently. Despite not growing in terms of infrastructure, teachers, or other factors, this has remained constant. Given the decline in educational output and quality, it is crucial to ascertain whether the growing student body has an effect on students’ academic performance. It is also necessary to determine the reasons behind the rising student body in government secondary schools in the Ebonyi state educational zone and what can be done to address the issue.

Nolasco and Arthu (2001) identified five possible overpopulation-related issues, including

i. Dealing with loud noises

ii. Organizing the start of and preparation for activities

Making scarce resources go a long way (iii)

iv. Recognizing individual variations and

v. Keeping track of each student’s classmate’s work.

1.3 STUDY’S OBJECTIVES

The main goals of this study are to;

i) Analyze how Abakaliki’s overcrowding affects students’ academic performance.

b) Identify and analyze the psychological impact of classroom overcrowding

iii) The study also tries to understand how teachers’ ability to effectively teach and learn in overcrowded classrooms.

iv) The government’s role in reducing population growth is examined as a potential solution to the problem.

1.4 QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH

1. How does Abakaliki’s class size affect teaching and learning activities?

2. Does the way people sit in Abakaliki effect how they learn?

3. Does a student’s ability to focus depend on how many others there are in the class?

4. Does student academic performance in Nigerian secondary schools suffer from overcrowding?

5. Does teacher productivity in the teaching/learning process suffer from overcrowding?

6. Does a student’s academic achievement depend on the learning environment?

1.5 RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER STUDIES

This study will show how much overcrowding has affected students’ academic performance, which makes it an important effort. It also identifies additional aspects of overcrowding that affect how well students succeed. Additionally, this study will help instructors and school administrators devise strategies to lessen the negative effects of overcrowding on students’ academic performance. And to support children’s learning, education curricula and school design will be rigorously examined, say experts in the field. serving as a project to evaluate whether or whether overcrowding affects pupils’ academic performance, to be more precise.

Finally, it will provide pertinent information and serve as a research tool for those who need it.

1.6 The study’s scope and limitations

This study used EBSU Staff Secondary School in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State as a case study to examine the relationship between class size and student achievement as well as the causes and effects of overpopulation. This study also includes all pupils in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State’s public secondary schools. Only one public secondary school will serve as the case study, though.

The following are some of the study’s limitations:

Financial restraint: Financial restraints brought on by the price of commodities and transportation.

This project must be turned in within a limited amount of time due to a time limitation.

Insufficient cooperation: Some respondents’ unwillingness to cooperate in providing information about their families and schools for reasons they know best.

1.7 TERM DEFINITION

A place is considered to be overpopulated when the resources available cannot support the number of people living there. Overpopulation is defined as an increase in the population of a certain geographic area.

Academic: Associated with learning, particularly with school and university study.

Performance: An activity or accomplishment that is evaluated based on its level of success. the capacity to perform with high efficacy.

A building or other structure designated as a classroom is designed to arrange students for learning. It is often referred to as the system’s beating heart.

1.8 The way the study was structured

For ease of understanding, this research paper is divided into five chapters, as follows: The first chapter is devoted to the introduction, which includes a (overview of the study), a problem statement, study objectives, a research question, the significance of the investigation, a description of the research methodology, a list of words used, and information about the study’s historical context. The theoretical foundation for the investigation is highlighted in Chapter 2, which is why a review of related literature is included. The third chapter covers the study’s methodology and research strategy. The gathering, processing, and presentation of data are the main topics of Chapter 4. The study’s summary, conclusion, and suggestions are presented in Chapter 5.