PREFERENCE OF COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS TO NON COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

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PREFERENCE OF COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS TO NON COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Before the release of the National Policy on Ed ucation (NPE) in 1977 by the Federal Government, Secondary education was organis ed into grammar schools , technical s ch ools , vocational and commercial s ch ools . Th ere were a few comp reh ens ive s econd ary s ch ools in th e count ry, b ut th ey were mainly owned and managed b y p rivate p rop rietors . Attemp ts b y th e Fed eral Government in th e 1960s to intro d uce comp reh ens ive h igh s ch ools d id not get much p op ular s upp ort and th e p rop os al was ab and oned as a national s ch eme. Both p arents and stud ents p referred th e gramma r s ch ools , and th e tech nical s ch ools were accep ted as a s econd -b est ch oice.

Th e vocational and comme rcial s ch ools were p erceived as s anctua ries for th os e wh o could not p ass th e comp etitive entrance examinations into th e grammar and tech nical s ch ools , or d id not h ave enough money to enrol in th em.

Th e National Policy on Ed ucation wh ich was revis ed in 1981, marked a rad ical d ep arture from th e inh erited British s ystem to th e American system of ed ucation. Pop ularly referred to as th e 6-3-3-4 s ystem, th e Policy p rovid es for 6 years of p rimary s ch ooling, 3 years of junior s econd ary and 3 years of s enior s econd ary ed ucation, and 4 years of univers ity ed ucation. Sixth Form was ab olish ed , and th e d istinction th at h ith erto existed b etween grammar, tech nical, vocational and comme rcial s econd ary s ch ools was eliminated . In effect, every s econd ary s ch ool b ecame comp reh ens ive in comp os ition and ob jectives

Statement of the problem

There have been the challenge of the proper orientation of secondary school students before they make choice of commercial subjects as a preference to non-commercial subjects. This work gives a further explanation and analysis into the subject of discuss.

Objectives of the study
To understand the impact of preference of commercial subjects to non-commercial subjects
To understand the factors responsible for preference of commercial subjects

Research questions
What is the impact of preference of commercial subjects to non-commercial subjects
What are the factors responsible for preference of commercial subjects

Research hypothesis

H0: There is a relationship between students’ orientation and awareness and their preference of commercial subjects to non-commercial subjects

H1: There is a relationship between students’ orientation and awareness and their preference of commercial subjects to non-commercial subjects

CHAPTER TWO

Literature review

In a developing country like Nigeria, it can b e argued that the main function of Secondary education should be to prepare the majority of young p eop le for the lab our market and a s elect few for higher ed ucation. In a s urvey cond ucted b y Nwagwu (1989, 358) it app eared th at alth ough th e National Policy on Ed ucation h ad p rojected clos e to 100 p er cent trans ition from p rimary s ch ools to junior s econd ary s ch ools b y th e mid -1980’s , and ab out 70 – 80 p er cent trans ition from junior to senior s econd ary s ch ools , th e p ercentage th at moved from p rimary to s econd ary was much lower, wh ile th at of th os e wh o cont inued from junior to s enior s econd ary ed ucation was h igh er th an p rojected b y th e p olicy p lanners . However, opp ortun ities for h igh er ed ucation were very much limited wh ile p aid emp loyment in th e mod ern s ector of th e econom y was d ifficult to find .

Difficulty in ob taining ad miss ion into h igh er ed ucational institutions in Nigeria is a res ult of a comb ination of factors . First, th ere are very many s econd ary s ch ool leavers comp eting for vacancies in th e few h igh er institutions . Th is is d ue to th e rap id , rath er unp lanned and uncoord inated exp ans ion of th e s econd ary s ch ool s ystem. For examp le, in 1979/80 s ess ion, th ere were 1,553,345 s econd ary stud ents in Nigeria with 543,564 or 34.9% of th em b eing females . By 1989/90 s ess ion, th e corresp ond ing figures were 2,901,993 stud ents , with 1,240,525 or 42.7% b eing females . (Fed eral Ministry of Ed ucation, 1985, 1990). In effect, with in 10 years , th e s econd ary s ch ool p op ulation h ad d oub led , and th e p ercentage of females h ad increas ed from 34 .9% to 42.7%.

Second ly, alth ough th ere h as b een a large increas e in th e numb er of tertiary institutions , cand id ates h ave often not taken full ad vantage of th e d ifferent typ es of h igh er ed ucational institutions availab le and th e d ivers ified p rogramme s th ey offered . For illustration, accord ing to a Fed eral Government rep ort (1991) b y 1970/71 s ess ion, th ere were only s ix univers ities with a total enrolment of 14,502 stud ents ; s even Ad vanced Teach er Training Colleges (now just called Colleges of Ed ucation) with 3273 stud ents ; and five Tech nical Institutes/Polytech nics with 2620 stud ents . By th e 1995/96 acad emic year, Nigeria h ad 37 univers ities enrolling over 250,000 stud ents ; 63 Colleges of Ed ucation with ab out 75,000 stud ents , and 33 p olytech nics with a total enrolment of over 97,000 (Ukeje, 1995). Neverth eless , with a p op ulation p ut b y th e National Pop ulation Commiss ion at 105 million, b ut estimated b y exp erts from p revious figures and th e p op ulation growth rate of 3.3% to b e ab out 120 million, we can s ee h ow gross ly inad eq uate th e availab le tertiary institutions are.

Too great an obs ess ion with th e gramma r s ch ool concep t and th e d es ire of many s econd ary s ch ool stud ents to enter a univers ity, rath er th an a p olytech nic or a College of Ed ucation h as b rough t in its wake certain acad emic and emp loyment p rob lems for th e stud ents , ed ucational and econom ic p lanners , and ultimately for s ociety and th e nation. Th is p erh aps exp lains wh y th e National Policy on Ed ucation laid s o much emph as is on p re-vocational s ub jects in th e Junior Second ary Sch ool (JSS) and vocational s ub jects in th e Senior Second ary Sch ool (SSS). In th e JSS, stud ents stud y any two of th e following four p re-vocational s ub jects :

1. Intro d uctory Tech nology

2. Local Crafts

3. Home Econom ics

4. Bus iness Stud ies .

Th e two s elected s ub jects are in add ition to 10 core s ub jects taken b y ever y stud ent. Th e ten ar e:

x English Language

x Math ematics

x Language of th e environment or locality

x One major Nigerian Language (Haus a, Ib o or Yorub a)

x Integrated Science

x Social Stud ies .

x Creative Arts (Mus ic or Fine Arts)

x Practical Agriculture

x Religious Stud ies

x Ph ys ical and Health Ed ucation.

At th e Senior Second ary Sch ool, th e following core s ub jects are comp uls ory: English Language, a Nigerian language and Math ematics . One of th e following s ub jects must als o b e taken: Ph ys ics , Ch emistry and Biology; and one s ub ject ch os en from English Literature, History or Geograph y; p lus Agricultural Science or a vocational s ub ject. In add ition, every stud ent must offer th ree elective s ub jects not alread y offered as core s ub jects . One of th es e electives may b e d ropp ed at th e end of th e s econd year in th e SSS d ep end ing on th e ch oice of career. Accord ing to th e Fed eral Ministry of Ed ucation (1992, p . 241) of th e National Policy on Ed ucation (NPE), th e comb ination of th es e core and elective s ub jects would enab le a stud ent to offer Lib eral Arts, Science or a vocation in h igh er ed ucation, and if b ound for th e lab our market, sh e/h e would h ave knowled ge and s kills th at would offer a wid e range of job opp ortun ities .

Th us , at th e SSS level and b as ed on th eir p erformance in th e JSS Certificate Examination, stud ents are class ified into th e following streams : Science, Lib eral Arts, Commerce or Bus iness , and Tech nical Group . Th ere h as b een wid espr ead criticism of th e training and streaming p rogramme of th e National Policy on Ed ucation b y b oth s ch olars and emp loyers of lab our. Accord ing to analysts like Nwagwu (1989) and Olotu (1987), th e ed ucation given h as b een s een as inad eq uate, th e p rogramme s h ave b een h aph azard ly imp lemente d and , h ence, th e lofty ob jectives h ave remained unattained . Th e reas ons h ave b een traced to sh ortage of teach ers , esp ecially for th e p re-vocational and tech nical s ub jects , and gross ly inad eq uate instructional materials and worksh ops for th es e critical s ub jects wh ich constituted th e main focus and innovation in th e p olicy.

Ind eed , th e auth or agrees with Ad es ina (1982, p . 26) th at an ed ucational s ystem h as not d evelop ed if it cons istently fails to ach ieve ed ucational ob jectives , and if it cannot s olve p rob lems of unemp loyment and und er-emp loyment, or th e p rob lem of sh ortage of critical s killed manp ower.

Th e Fed eral Government (1981, p . 16) in th e National Policy on Ed ucation emph as is ed th at th e b road aims of s econd ary ed ucation were to b e p rep aration of young p eop le for us eful living in s ociety and for h igh er ed ucation. UNESCO (1974) stress ed th at tech nical and vocational ed ucation were ess ential for s econd ary ed ucation to b e ab le to meet th e d evelop mental needs and asp irations of ind ivid ual stud ents . For s ome, it will b e immed iate entry into th e world of work. For oth ers , it is ad miss ion into h igh er ed ucation to acq uire more knowled ge s kills , and to mature as a p rofess ional or oth er resp ons ib le p os ition with in th e lab our market. Th e q uestion is wh eth er Nigerian s econd ary s ch ools , as restructured und er th e NPE, h ave s ucceed ed in gett ing young p eop le s ufficiently p rep ared to make reas onab le and realistic ch oices b etween furt h er ed ucation and th e emp loyment market?

Th e comp uls ory learning of p re-vocational s ub jects in th e junior s econd ary s ch ools and vocational s ub jects in th e s enior s econd ary along with th e trad itional arts, s cience and s ocial s cience s ub jects is intend ed to eq uip stud ents to h ave a b road er p ers p ective and field of ch oice b oth for furt h er acad emic work and emp loyment p urp os es . However, s ome s ch olars like Heyneman (1987, p . 68) h ave argued th at it is b ette r to train th os e wh o are tech nically orientate d in tech nical s ch ools th an in th e general or comp reh ens ive s econd ary s ch ools as p rovid ed for in th e National Policy on Ed ucation. Moreover, s ome s ch olars like Foster (1987) and Blaug (1977) were of th e op inion th at often we exp ected too much from stud ents wh o received tech nical and vocational ed ucation in sp ecial streams in comp reh ens ive s econd ary s ch ools and even from full s ep arate vocational s ch ools . In th eir view, th e level and typ e of s kills acq uired b y th es e stud ents could not b e linked d irectly and effectively to th e lab our market. Th is s ituation, coup led with th e keen comp etition for ad mission into th e few tertiary institutions ) and th e s lim and d wind ling opp ortun ities for emp loyment informed th e d ecis ion to cond uct th e res earch th at is rep orted in th e next s ection.

Between 1993 and 1994, th e auth or cond ucted a stud y on s econd ary stud ents ’ acad emic and career p references . At worksh ops , s eminars and conferences , s econd ary s ch ools h ad b een b ad ly criticis ed for failing to take th e teach ing of th e tech nical and vocational s ub jects s erious ly. For examp le, d uring a s eminar h eld in Benin in July 1996 (Iwu, 1996), p rincip als of s econd ary s ch ools exp lained th at government itself h ad not mad e it p oss ib le for effective teach ing and learning of th e s ub jects to take p lace b ecaus e th e relevant teach ers were not app lied wh ile instructional materials , facilities , eq uip ment and op erating funds were not availab le. Th e p rincip als and teach ers als o b lamed p arents and stud ents th ems elves for living in th e p ast b y p utting too much p remium on th e grammar s ch ool typ e of ed ucation and wh ite-collar jobs . Th erefore, it was d ecid ed to investigate th e imp act, if any, th at th e imp lementat ion of th e National Policy on Ed ucation at th e Second ary level migh t h ave mad e on stud ents wh o went th rough th e p rogramme with sp ecial reference to wh at th ey would like to d o after grad uating from th e s econd ary s ch ools . Th e auth or was als o p articularly interested in h ow th ey p erceived teach ing as a p rofess ional career.

Th e p op ulation of th e stud y cons ists of stud ents from s econd ary s ch ools in Imo State. Th e State is one of th os e officially class ified b y th e Fed eral Government as ed ucationally ad vanced States. It h as h igh p op ulation d ens ity and th ere is very keen comp etition for p laces in th e tertiary institutions and for emp loyment in th e p ub lic s ector. A total of 360 stud ents comp ris ing 180 b oys and 180 girls constituted th e s amp le for th e stud y. Th ey were d rawn b y d elib erate stratified s amp ling tech niq ues from s even s econd ary s ch ools . Four of th e s ch ools were in urb an areas wh ereas th ree were located in th e rural areas . Th ere were two b oys ’ s ch ools , two girls ’ s ch ools and th ree mixed s ch ools in th e s amp le.

Final year stud ents in th e s econd ary s ch ools were us ed as a s amp le b ecaus e th ey h ad to make th e imp ortant d ecis ion of th eir lives wh eth er to cont inue with th eir acad emic asp irations b y s eeking and ob taining ad miss ion into a tertiary institution, or to move into s ociety to s eek emp loyment or b ecome s elf-emp loyed . Wh eth er th eir p reference was h igh er ed ucation or th e lab our market, th ey h ad to d etermine wh ich typ e of h igh er ed ucation or th e typ e of emp loyment th ey asp ired to ob tain. Stud ent-teach ers on teach ing p ractice h elp ed to ad minister th e q uestionnaire. Th e main q uestions centred on th e stud ents ’ interest in furt h ering th eir ed ucation; th e typ e of emp loyment th ey would p refer after grad uating from th e Second ary s ch ool or a tertiary institution, and th e major reas ons for th eir p references .

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