Impact Of School Facilities On Students’ Academic Performances In Public Secondary Schools

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Education for any Nation is believed to be veritable machinery for the development of a country. This is obvious because of the roles played by educated people in the development of science, social- economic and political structure to improve the individual, families and making the society a better place to live. In the light of these values, education today must prepare the child to function effective as an adult to be, and these cannot be achieved without adequate school facilities.

Education, either formal or traditional exists in every society. However, the history of school facilities could be traced to the era of formal system of education. It equally changes with the system of education, even though, such other facilities like money and human resources are required. Over the years, enrolment into the secondary education has been on the increase, following series of educational programmes being introduced. One of such is the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme. Also, successive governments have and are still allocating an appreciable percentage of their annual budgets to the provision and maintenance of school facilities meant to improve the sector.

It was reported by Balderstenb (1974) and Comb (1985) that, education in Nigeria began to expand first gradually, and then dramatically. The consequence is the demand for education in general and school facilities in particular can be enormous. This is supported by the fact that, the quality of education can be greatly affected if schools are deficient in essential facilities in the teaching/learning process.

An effective school facility is responsive to the changing programs of educational delivery, and at a minimum should provide a physical environment that is comfortable, safe, secure, accessible, well illuminated, well ventilated, and aesthetically pleasing. The school facility consists of not only the physical structure and the variety of building systems, such as mechanical, plumbing, electrical and power, telecommunications, security, and fire suppression systems. The facility also includes furnishings, materials and supplies, equipment and information technology, as well as various aspects of the building grounds, namely, athletic fields, playgrounds, areas for outdoor learning, and vehicular access and parking.

The subject of school facilities had received great attention from the public as well as educators in recent times. According to Building educational success Together (BEST, 2005), it was reported that the responsibility of every administrator is to ensure that every child had access to quality education in school facilities that provide an educational setting that was suited for teaching and learning. Also, implementing educational policies that resulted in high quality, high performance, and well designed and maintained school facilities had a direct and indirect impact on the teaching and learning process (BEST, 2005). Effective facilities management therefore contributes to the success of every student in any school. In a study carried out by Hale (2002) reveals that students in class rooms with large windows, natural lighting and well-designed skylights were found to perform well from 19 to 25% better than their peers in classroom without these features. Not only environmental conditions in schools affect the students but also the staff as observed by (Hunter, 2006) which include the inoperative heating system, inadequate ventilation and poor

lighting system. The overall building condition, the age of the building, and the windows as well as the instructional areas were positively related to students achievement in learning (Bullock, 2007).

It is evident in their contributions (Broome, 2005; Hughes, 2005; Lyons, 2001) that students‘ achievement depends upon the physical school facility, its age, the design and the condition of the school. School facilities played a significant role in directing the task of teaching and that of shaping students learning process in and out of school. No doubt, school building as a tool for instituting an effective teaching and learning process constituted sizeable investment of public funds over its development and maintenance by the administrators.

Today, most of the school facilities which are supposed to promote and enhanced teaching, learning and extra-curricular activities in secondary education are absolute and thereby, creating serious challenges to the 21st century educational needs of the learners.

Others are dilapidated and not suitable to motivate secondary students to learn. School/Educational facilities are otherwise referred to as school facilities. The school facilities are the physical facilities provided for in the school, such as the school site, the buildings and equipment. These facilities are likened to capital in any industrial settings. In understanding the national goal of developing the educational system so as to provide a satisfactory flow of men and women, capable of acquiring the skills necessary to exploit to the fullest, the natural resources of the country makes it imperative for facilities to be abundantly available in schools. Buildings are needed

to shelter staff and students, sports/games facilities are needed to develop the mental, social and physical aspects of the students.

School facilities are made up of the school land all the physical structure on it. It refers to the school building, the play grounds, the equipment and other material resources provided in the school for effective teaching and learning operations, (Onuorah,2004).The school facilities is the space interpretation of the school curriculum(Mgbodile,1986).Similarly, it was defined according to Ani (1997), thatSchool facilities include the fixed and mobile structure and materials in the school such as the classroom buildings, laboratory equipment, the furniture, the chalkboard, audio and visual aids. School facilities mean all facilities and equipment within the school, which are used by the members of the school community (Abraham, 2003).

It was asserted that no matter the strength of manpower resources in the system, educational processes must require conducive physical accommodation, libraries, furniture‘s and playground (Nwaogu,1985). When these instructional facilities are lacking, it can affect negatively the productivity of the teachers. Learning takes place better and faster in a school environment with high level of buildings, accommodations, furniture‘s, and equipment, than in an environment where all these items are lacking. Adesina and Ogunsanji(1984) in their recognition of the need for a well-equipped school noted that for effective teaching and learning situations, physical facilities and educational goals should be viewed as being closely interwoven and inter-dependent. Apart from protecting students from sun, rain, heat and cold, the school building represents a learning environment which has a

tremendous impact on the learners. Therefore, in order to facilitate this high level of teaching and learning process, there is need for well-planned and organized school facilities. A conducive teaching and learning environment is important to the quality of teachers engaged in the inculcation of desired attributes to the students. Stressing further, the impact of environment on teaching and learning to be effective, the school building and its surroundings must be free from threats, hostility and frustration. He suggested the following materials should be made available for teacher‘s use to enhance learning which are, textbook, programmed materials and devices, newspaper and magazines, and other library material, pictures, slides, film strips ,maps, globes ,charts, motion pictures, radio, television, chalkboards and chalks, specimens to concretize the ideas and stimulates imagination.

Undoubtedly, if the physical facilities and equipment are not adequate or in good state in secondary schools, the planning of the Programmes would be hampered. In Giwa and Zaria secondary schools, the problems of available structures, physical facilities and teaching equipment is acute. Most secondary  school buildings today were built during the colonial era; many of them are so old that they are dilapidated and unsafe for human occupation. While those that are relatively good are congested by students. These buildings should be re-placed, reinforced or replaced so as to avoid catastrophic loss of lives of the occupants. These have led to the poor performance of students, attributed to poor learning environment and lack of facilities among others. Commenting on the state of facilities  in  the  school,  Nwuzor  (1989:4)  citing  a  news  watch  special  report on

―Nigeria in the Eye of the child ―quoted a child as saying that ―The classrooms are

full of potholes…..We need buildings, if they will provide electricity in the school, it will be okay: This observation agrees with that of Unachukwu and Nwaankwo (2005) who revealed the fact that learning environment in secondary schools is poor and non- motivating. This according to them starts from classroom environment citing of schools as in urban areas infrastructural facilities. This explains the physical condition under which learners learn and therefore the need to improve on it.

During the 1975 Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme in Nigeria, there was phenomenal population explosion in the primary schools, which heat the secondary and tertiary institutions after some years .The school planned to take 500 pupils and had over 2000 pupils. This resulted in mango trees, melena trees and  make shift buildings becoming classrooms (Bosah, 1996). One of the objectives of the UPE was to produce people who could read and write; due to inadequate school facilities and maintenance one wonders the degree of achievement of the set objectives.

1.2 Statement of the problem

There is no gain saying that, educational system in Nigeria has contributed in no small measures to support the Nation‘s economy through the provision of qualitative manpower and acquisition of knowledge, skills and values. In the 21st century, there has been a tremendous growth in students‘ populationwithout corresponding growth in the number of facilities as a result of economic depression and corresponding rise in cost. This has put much pressure on existing facilities.

Thus, it appears that school facilities have been allowed to decay.

For any school to function effectively, the school facilities mustbe in good condition. Thus the general public has expressed concern over the insufficiency of school facilities in Giwa and Zaria schools. To many, the condition of facilities in the school is a major criterion for selecting school for their children. In spite of this concernand demand for a change, it appears that the management of physical facilities in Kaduna state schools leaves much to be desired.

It is not uncommon these days to see some classrooms full of potholes on the floor comparable to the scenes on the roads. Children scarcely find space to sit or move about. Lack of ceilings makes classrooms extremely hot for learning activities in hot weather. Some buildings have sagging roofs on them. When facilities are not maintained, they constitute health hazards to the users of the facilities. Teachers on their own will not perform effectively without facilities. The Students‘ academic performance will be negatively affected; the tone of the school will be at itslowest ebb and human and material resources.

Secondary schools in Nigeria require adequate teaching, learning, welfare/health sport and recreational facilities such as classroom, chalkboard, computer, internet/ICT, microscope, video CD player, audio CD player, textbooks, projectors, hostel accommodation, laboratories, security, libraries, sports and others recreational facilities to improve students‘ academic performances. The quality of education that our students receive bears direct relevance to the adequacy of school facilities and overall environment in which learning takes place. In other words, educational programmes and processes are greatly influenced by the school facilities.

The impact of classrooms, dormitories, libraries,laboratories and instructional materials such as textbooks, blackboards and furniture on students ‗performance constitutes the basics upon which many patrons make their initial judgmentabout the quality of the school and the educational programme. The absence of thesefacilities often leave a lot of doubt in the minds of stakeholders, parents, students and the generalsociety as to what type of teaching and learning that could take place in such asituation. Appearance and general condition of school facilities are the striking basisupon which many parents and friends of any educational institution make the initialjudgment about the quality of what goes on in the secondary schools. Fabunmi (2007) in support of this asserted that school facilities when provided will aid teaching and learning programme and consequently improve academic performances of students. Indeed, the supply of some welfare/health facilities, such as electricity, pipe born water, clinic, toilet.

Scholars like (Wilcockson, 1994; Lawal, 1995; Ajayi, 1996; Suleiman, 1996) have variously identified that poor facilities affects teaching, learning, mental stability, inter-personal relationship as well as the psychomotor domain of the students. They concluded that absence or poor quality of educational facilities can affect teaching and learning activities and invariably, academic performance of the students. Most public schools exist in vacuum with virtually no facilities to promote effective teaching and learning process. These facilities include textbooks, libraries, table, chairs, classrooms, laboratories. Musa (2013) opined that lack of school facilities result in depreciation in the academic programme and performance of students. 

It is in view of the importance of school facilities to theattainment of educational objectives that the study investigated such activities in school, since the importance of school facilities is not in doubt and since it is in a very deplorable condition in Giwa and Zaria Education zones, a change for the better needs not be over emphasized. The problem of this study therefore is the impact of school

facilities on students‘ academic performances in public secondary schools in Giwa and Zaria Education zones.