CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Poor parenting on academic
performance of childrenand neglect are fastly becoming universal phenomena in
the current world societies despite the fact the child’s rights are being
recognized and even to some extent, protected by legislations and constitutions
in many countries of the world. Childhood abuse potentially has major economic
implications for Nigerian schools and for their students. Even conservative
estimates suggest that at least 8 percent of U.S. children experience sexual
abuse before age 18, while 17 percent experience physical abuse and 18 percent
experience physical neglect (Flisher, Kramer, Hoven, & Greenwald, 2007).
Childhood maltreatment, and aversive parenting practices, in general, has the
potential to delay the academic progress of students (Shonk & Cicchetti, 2001). It therefore has the potential to
undermine schools’ ability to satisfy standards of school progress entailed in
the No Child Left Behind legislation (U.S. Department of Education, 2005), putting them at risk for loss of
federal funding. It also has the potential to adversely affect students''
economic outcomes in adulthood, via its impact on achievement in middle and
high school (Cawley, Heckman, & Vytlacil, 2001).
Poor parenting on academic
performance of childrenhas been defined by the African network for the
prevention and protection against poor parenting on academic performance of
childrenand Neglect (ANPPCAN) as the intentional and unintentional acts which
endanger the physical, health, emotional, moral and the educational welfare of
the child. Hopper (2004) also described poor parenting on academic performance
of childrenas any act of maltreatment or subjection that endangers a child’s
physical, emotional and health development.
Gelles, (2007) affirmed that poor parenting on academic performance of childreninclude
not only physical assault but also malnourishment, abandonment, neglect,
emotional abuse and sexual abuse.
According to Mba (2002), prominent
form of poor parenting on academic performance of childrenin Nigeria are child
battering, child labour, child abandonment, neglect, teenage prostitution,
early marriage and forced marriage. Kolander (2000) stated that emotional and
sexual abuses are highly noticeable in Nigeria. Oji (2006) observed that babies
born by teenage mothers in Nigeria were 625,024 as at the reporting time.
According to Walsh (2005), unwanted
pregnancy has been identified to be a major cause of poor parenting on academic
performance of childrenin Nigeria. Many abused children were unwanted in the
first place and turned out to be a severe burden on their emotionally immature
or impoverished parents. Odey (2003) stated that children from poor homes are
more vulnerable to abuse and Todd,(2004) in his support said that
Nigeria, which is are known corrupt nation in Africa is heading towards a
dangerous poverty where her teeming population does not have enough food
for healthy living. Oluwole (2002) equally lamented when analyzing the
situation of children which are being used for house helps. Child labour is the
major obstacles to the achievement of education for all (EFA) and this result
into a setback on the achievement of the world target of universal primary
education by 2015.
According to Onye (2004), poor
parenting on academic performance of childrenis an evidence of poverty.
Aderinto and Okunola (2008) equally recorded that some children reported that
they were pushed into street hawking for maintenance needs of the family. That
means that they are the breadwinners of their various families at their early
age. It is a common sight in major parks and streets in Nigeria to see children
of school age between 6-16 years as bus/taxi mates, hawking wares, pushing
trucks for money or begging for money when they are supposed to in the
classroom learning in the schools. All these point to the fact that the worst
hit groups are children who are at the risk of diseases, exploitation, neglect
and violence.
Although, the potential impact of
child abuse is large, but evidence of
causal effects of maltreatment on children''s longer term outcomes in school is
generally lacking. The current state of evidence for a link between childhood
maltreatment (physical and sexual abuse or neglect) and school performance is
limited to negative associations between maltreatment and school performance.
On average, children who are abused receive lower ratings of performance from
their school teachers, score lower on cognitive assessments and standardized
tests of academic achievement, obtain lower grades, and get suspended from
school and retained in grade more frequently (Erickson, Egeland, & Pianta,
2003). Abused children are also prone to difficulty in forming new
relationships with peers and adults and in adapting to norms of social behavior
(Shields, Cicchetti and Ryan, 2004). Although, these examples of negative
associations between poor parenting on academic performance of childrenand
school performance are suggestive of causal effects, they could be spuriously
driven by unmeasured factors in families or neighborhoods that are themselves
correlated with worse academic outcomes among children (Todd and Wolpin, 2003).
In addition, not much of the previous
evidence linking childhood maltreatment to worse school performance generalizes
well to older children in middle and high school and to children not already
identified as needing services. Evidence of the impacts of maltreatment on
academic performance in the general population of middle and high school
students is needed to establish evidence of effects on schooling attainment in
the general education population and on economic outcomes in adulthood.
Using a large dataset of U.S.
adolescent sibling pairs, this study explores effects of maltreatment—neglect,
physical aggression, and sexual abuse on adolescents’ performance in middle and
high school. First, the questions of how childhood maltreatment theoretically
could negatively affect later school performance, and of how unobserved family
background and neighborhood characteristics might influence ordinary least
squares and fixed effects regression estimates of relationships between
childhood maltreatment and later school performance, are discussed. Second,
empirical estimates from models that controlled for observable and unobservable
family and neighborhood characteristics are presented.
1.2 Statement of Problem
Grill (2009) stated that the school
can do a lot of things about poor parenting on academic performance of childrensince
it has a way of affecting the school system. The problem of poor parenting on
academic performance of childrenhave long been existing in Nigeria, and have
even become more even devastating to the society has whole. That history of poor
parenting on academic performance of childrenin Esan West Local Government Area
of Edo State is as old as the persistence of the phenomenon in Nigeria itself
cannot be overemphasized. Children suffered all forms of abuse ranging from
child battering, child labour, child abandonment, neglect, teenage
prostitution, early marriage and forced marriage. And in most cases, the
parents are even at the centre of the root cause of all these social
maltreatment. The school though, as an
agent of socialization portends to have
a strong and overwhelming influence on the development of the child, but observation has shown that these
essence of education could probably be
defeated if the children are made to
continually suffer the pains of child labour (Martins E.O. 2010). This study
however, centers on the extent to which the school has been involved in its
attempt to develop the child within the social context of poor parenting on
academic performance of children. And It is in the light of these, that the
study attempts to unravel the major causes of poor parenting on academic
performance of childrenand how it affects the child’s educational performance.
1.3 Purpose
of Study
This
research project has its main objectives the problem of finding out the impact
of poor parenting on academic performance of children. Moreover, this research
study sets:
1. To examine the causes of poor
parenting on academic performance of children
2. To determine the effect of poor parenting on academic
performance of children
3. To examine the consequences of poor
parenting on academic performance of children.
4. To determine possible solutions to poor
parenting on academic performance of children.
1.4 Significance
of the Study
This study is to provide parents and
school administrators with an insight into how much damage poor parenting on
academic performance of childrenand especially hawking after school can have on
the academic development of student in general. This study is significant as
the findings will be beneficial to parents, guardians, teachers, school heads
and all other stakeholders in the educational sector, as they will be better
enlightened on the problems associated with poor parenting on academic
performance of children. Such knowledge
may curtail any further action of exploiting the child especially been used as
object of raising family economy. Hawking no doubt expose the child to many
social vices, thus the fact that the study attempts to create a model for
proper upbringing of the child in the society makes it justifiable.
1.6 Delimitation/Scope
of study
The study laid emphasis on the effect
of poor parenting and how it affects the academic performance of the children
using secondary schools.
1.7
Definition of Terms
The following terms are defined for
the essence of this work:
1.
Poor
parenting on academic performance of children:
harsh or ill treatment melted on any child; it could be by physical pr
emotional means.
2.
Physical
Abuse: any form of corporal punishment
melted on a child by his parent, teacher or guardian.
3.
Neglect:
paying no attention, not given enough care, to leave undone what need to be
done.