CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Over the past decades, the unfortunate
reality is that the income gap has widened betweenNorthern Ghanan families.
Educational outcomes are one of the key areas influenced by familyincome.
Children from low-income families often start school already behind their peers
whocome from more affluent families. The incidence, depth, duration and timing
of poverty allinfluence a child’s educational performance, along with
communitycharacteristics and social networks (Evan, 2004). However, both Northern
Ghanan and international organizationshave shown that the effects of poverty
can be reduced using sustainable interventions.
Meanwhile, poverty remains a stubborn fact of
life even in rich countries. According toHarris (2006) complex web of social
relationships student experience with peers, adults in theschool and family
members exerts a much greater influence on their academic performance. This
processstarts with student core relationship with parents or primary caregivers
in their lives, whichform a personality that is either secure and attached or
insecure and unattached. Securelyattached children perform better in school
(Bali, Granger, Kivlighan, Mills-Koonce,Willongby&Greeberg, 2008). Once
students are in school, the dual factors of socializationand social status
contribute significantly to academic achievement. The school socialization
processtypically pressure student to be like their peer or risk social
rejection, whereas the quest forhigh social status drives students to attempt
to differentiate themselves in some areas, forexample, socio-economic status
forms a huge part in this equation. Children raised in povertyrarely choose to
behave differently, but are faced daily with overwhelming challenges
thataffluent children never have to confront and their brains have adapted to
suboptimalconditions in ways that undermine good school performance.
The human conditions which we might classify
as being in poverty have a long history with avariety of interpretations; these
conditions are influenced by a number of factors includingresources,
contemporary standards and public perceptions of what is minimally acceptable
(Evans, 2004).
One of the social issue facing students of
poverty is emotional trauma. The emotional climatecan often be very stressful
and emotionally depriving. The lack of emotional nurturing canlead to feelings
of alienation, inadequacy, depression and anxiety. Aggressive or
impulsivebehaviour and social withdrawal can also result, which in turn can
affect their academic performance. However, the overall goal of this study is
to provide an insight into theinfluence of poverty on student academic performance.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Strong, secure relationships devoid of
poverty and lack help stabilize children’s emotionally and provide the core
guidanceneeded to build lifelong social skills. Children who grew up with such
relationships learnhealthy, appropriate emotional responses to everyday
situations. But children raise in poorhomes often fail to learn these
responses, to the detriment of their school performance. Forexample, students
with emotional instability may get so easily frustrated that they give upon a task
when success was just moments away. Social dysfunction may inhibit
students’ability to work well in cooperative groups, quite possibly leading to
their exclusion by groupmembers who believe they aren’t “doing their part” or
“pulling their share of load”. Thisexclusion and the accompanying decrease in
collaboration and exchange of informationexacerbate at risk students’ already
shaky academic performance. However, the researcher is examining the effects of
poverty on the academic performance of the students in GusheguMidwivery
College.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
following are the objectives of this study:
1. To
examine the effects of
poverty on the academic performance of the students in GusheguMidwivery
College.
2. To
identify other factors affecting the academic performance of the students of GusheguMidwivery College.
3. To determine the factors encouraging poverty
in the society.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What
are the effects of poverty on the academic
performance of the students in GusheguMidwivery College?
2. What
are the other factors affecting the academic performance of the students of GusheguMidwivery College?
3. What are the factors encouraging poverty in
the society?
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO:
There is no significant relationship between poverty and student’s academic
performance
HA:
There is significant relationship between poverty and student’s academic
performance
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
following are the significance of this study:
1. The
result of this study will educate the general public on the effects of poverty
on the performance of students.
2. This
research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the
effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby
constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This
study will cover the poverty level and its effect on the performance of the
students of Gushegumidwivery college.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the
researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information
and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time
constraint- The
researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work.
This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.