CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The teaching of Christian Religious Studies in Nigeria has been justified on educational grounds as contributing to the fulfillment of national educational goals. Otunga (2016), while discussing on the dilemma of curriculum relevance in Nigeria, strongly emphasizes that a relevant curriculum should focus on the achievement of national development goals. This need for relevance is reflected in the Christian Religious Studies syllabus. The first of these national education goals is that of national unity which is fulfilled through Christian Religious Studies by promoting positive attitudes of mutual respect which enable the youths to live together in harmony.
Christian Religious Studies was introduced by the missionaries mainly for evangelical purposes. In the mission schools, the local people were taught how to read and write using the Bible as the main reference book (Onsongo, 2014). The schools were used as focal centres for winning converts as the Christian missionaries had a preconceived idea that Africans could easily be converted to Christianity through schooling, (Raymond, 2013).
The teaching of the Bible was emphasized and Christian Religious Studies formed the core of the whole school curriculum. Schools started and ended the day with prayers and hymns and although other subjects were later taught, they were only included because they were supportive to the Christian instruction (Otiende & Malusu, 2014). Christian Religious Studies molds the students into mature persons who will positively contribute towards the good of his/her nation (Whither & How, 2012).
This means that the national goals of education formulated by the Education Commission (Muradey, 2014) are achieved through the teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies. The prevailing moral degeneration in Nigeria, there is need to counter this through inculcating long lasting moral values in the citizens. The right foundations for bonding values need to be laid down. Mbiti (2004) argues that the teaching of Christian Religious Studies in schools is to produce boys and girls who will be men and women of real Christian character.
Poor maintenance and in effective use of school facilities and teaching aids among the students and teachers lead to poor performance in the teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in our secondary schools in Nigeria.
Beyond the direct impact that poor facilities have on students ability to learn together with frustrating behaviour by students including poor concentration which creates a stressful set of working conditions for students because stress and job dissatisfaction are common precursors to lowered students enthusiasm, it is possible that the afore mentioned school facilities has an influence on the achievement of students in Christian Religious Studies. The importance of the above school facilities is enormous. As succinctly put by Hamid (2012) the success in second language learning is dependent not only on the quality and intensity of instruction and absence of impediments to learning, but also on the makeup of the students’ methods and materials. However, Okeye (2011) posited that students are the hubs of any educational system and determine the success of the education system. Hence, this study intends to examine the influence of school facilities on the teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in Junior Secondary Schools in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos state
Statement of the problem
Despite the relevance of the subject as a medium of expression in the country as well as the region efforts made up by different scholars, researchers, government at all levels of educationists to improve the learning of Christian Religious Studies in schools, the performance of students in the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations and other external examinations are very appealing corroborating the above stand point. Another view is that, many school facilities have determined the academic achievement of students. Such facilities include conducive atmosphere for learning, availability of teaching aids, language laboratories. Ogunmulade (2016), in explaining the role of the school facilities stated that it heightens motivations for learning, making learning more stimulating as well as rewarding intellectually.
Also, we should understand that it is pertinent to note that the level of achievement of students in Christian Religious Studies in Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination varies from school to school. This study was therefore an attempt to look into influence of school facilities on the teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in Junior Secondary Schools in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos state
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of school facilities on the teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in Junior Secondary Schools in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos state. The specific objectives of this study are to;
§ determine the influences of inadequate school facilities on the academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students in Secondary Schools.
§ identify the impact of school classroom on the academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students in Secondary Schools.
§ ascertain the influence of availability of textbooks, teaching methods, class size, and student-teachers interaction on academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students.
§ find out strategies could be adopted to enhance better teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in Secondary Schools.
Research Questions
The following research questions are raised to guide this research work:
§ What is the influence of inadequate school facilities on the academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students in Secondary Schools?
§ What is the impact of school classroom on the academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students in Secondary Schools?
§ What is the influence of availability of textbooks, teaching methods, class size, and student-teachers interaction on academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students?
§ What are strategies that could be adopted to enhance better teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in Secondary Schools?
Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses are formulated from the research questions;
§ There is no significant influence of inadequate school facilities on the academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students in Secondary Schools.
§ There is no significant impact of school classroom on the academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students in Secondary Schools.
§ There is no significant influence of availability of textbooks, teaching methods, class size, and student-teachers interaction on academic performance of Christian Religious Studies students.
§ There is no significant difference in the strategies that could be adopted to enhance better teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in Secondary Schools.
Significance of the Study
The study is of much significance to schools, government administrators, and teachers to improve the level of Christian Religious Studies teaching and achievement of students in our post primary institution. It is hoped that the findings of the study will help to reduce the problems faced in teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies in secondary schools as well as eliminating poor performance in Christian Religious Studies. This study is of great importance in the sense that, it will reveal the extent at which overpopulation has affected student’s academic performance. Also it reveals other factors affecting student’s performance as a result of overpopulation.
Furthermore, this study will help the school authority and teachers to design some measures to curb the effect of overpopulation have on the academic performance of students. To the educationist, education curriculum as school structures will be carefully observed to help students learning.
It will provide the relevant knowledge and serves as a research tool for those who need such materials. This study could be useful to the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance in formulation policies and strategies to boast development of infrastructure in the schools to increase students' access to education and disbursement of infrastructure funds to public schools in Nigeria. The findings of this study may provide useful information for head teachers and Board of Governors (BOG) and Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) as stakeholders to know the infrastructures which affect students’ performance in school. The findings of this study will form a basis for further researchers who might be interested in advancing this study on the other regions of the country.
Scope of the Study
The study is limited to Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos state. The study is limited to examine the influence of school facilities on the achievement of students in Christian Religious Studies in the junior secondary schools.
Definition of Terms
The following terms are operationally defined;
Achievement: This refers to the performance of students in Christian Religious Studies examinations.
Classroom: a room that you have lessons in at a school or college
Learning: This is the process of acquiring new ideas which involve change in behavior after acquiring new concept.
School facilities: these are equipment that are provided for the purpose of teaching and learning of Christian Religious Studies depending on their availability and their effective use.
School: a place where children are taught
Students: someone who is studying at a university, school etc
Students: someone whose job is to teach, especially in a school
Teaching: This is the process of transferring ideas through methods by the students to the students’ in order to ensure learning.
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