The Relationship Between Class Size And Secondary School Students Academic Performance In Geography
[A CASE STUDY OF ABEOKUTA-SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OGUN STATE]

CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
    An attempt will be made in this chapter to review all works that are related to the relationship between class size and academic performance of geography students in secondary school in Abeokuta – South Local Government Area of Ogun State. This is necessary in order to enable the researcher to have a diverse knowledge or insight into their findings with a view to determine the aspect that would be of help to the researchers work.
    The review of related literature will be under the following headings:
>    Overview of secondary school population in geography
>    Enrolment in secondary education in geography
>    Effects of class size on academic performance in geography
Overview of Secondary School Population in Geography
    Considering an average gestation of children to adulthood of 0 – 19 years, Olopade (1996), observes that about 52.2% of the population falls under 15 years which belongs to the secondary population.
    In the same vein, Nigeria has a high child dependency ratio which is the proportion of children under 15 years to adults in the economically productive age of 15 – 64 years, in Nigeria about 54% of children depend on farm produce for food, clothing and shelter and also education.
    It is revealed that Nigeria is having about 98.3 million hectares of land, while less than 50% of this land (i.e. 34 million hectares) are under cultivation.
    According to Suleiman (1997), secondary schools are highly populated as a result of the urge for literacy and secondary education.
    In line with this development, most of existing infrastructural facilities become grossly inadequate. According to him, the students population has increase and no corresponding increase in facilities to meet the needs and aspirations of the learners.
    Ogunsaju (1989), stated that introduction of Universal Education in 1976 made it possible for all school age children to enrol in school, consequently, the number of children seeking admission into secondary schools by communities, voluntary organizations, local and state governments came as a panacea to find suitable placement for primary graduates.
    For too long, the secondary sector of our education system has been left to function at the whims and caprices of individuals, organizations and states. The sector continues to expand with no defined regulatory body. It is a common knowledge that the continuous numerical growth of secondary schools in Nigeria is astronomical.
    Every nook and cranny of this nation has witnessed a surge in proliferators of so-called secondary schools with no single body calling the shot or checking the incessant population explosion in the schools.
    The trend shows a pattern of continuous expansion of senior secondary schools which by implication entails students’ increase, whose interest must be properly catered for.
    The secondary school population in Nigeria has been reported to be about 30.2 million in 2006/2007 academic session. By projection, the figure cannot be less than 32 million for 2010/2011 academic session and the figure is expected to increase as years come by due to population growth. This very large cross section of Nigerian children along with the huge number of human, materials and financial resources required to take care of their growth and coordinate their activities deserve a statutory regulatory body which has never been so in the history of Nigeria.