EFFECT OF POOR HEALTH ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

1.1 Introduction

Student healthy wellbeing is a priceless asset that is easy to take for granted; students in middle school are faced with many changes that affect many aspects of their lives. During this time, students are desperate to find a place to belong and often make choices that negatively affect academic achievement and their ability to experience optimum health has been the focus of attention people are looking to improve their by regular exercise and changes in life style. According to Dorothy et al., (2002), school health service has undergone both evolutionary and revolutionary changes since its inception in the school health programmes. These changes are made possible by advances in medicine and education. School age is a period during which the child is undergoing rapid physical and mental developments. School health services have existed for more than 100 years, beginning with attempts to control the spread of communicable diseases (Dorothy et al., 2002).

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The National School Health policy was put in place in 2006 with the mission of putting in place adequate facilities, resources and programmes that will guarantee physical, mental and social wellbeing and the safe and security of the school community that will promote learning outcome of the child (National School Health Policy Implementation Guideline, 2006). School health services care came into existence in 1899 after the Boer war as a result of the defeats the British Soldiers suffered in the hands of the South Americans. Upon the investigation of the cause of the defeat, it was discovered that most of the soldiers used by the British were students that were not medically fit to join the army. This, therefore, prompted the British Government to introduce school health services to help check the status/standards of pupils (Sa’adatu, 2004).

Health as agree is wealth is always awareness that economic and individual growth is not easily achieved without good health. Health habit was created to provide a holistic approach to natural healing and usual the state of health one maintains. Overall health comes from recognizing the flaws, the mistakes and life changing decision that are easy to adapted to but not painfully difficult and seemingly impossible.

The poor health among school students in some selected secondary schools in Oredo local government area in Edo State has become the concern for this study, to inculcate the importance of health habits at a very delicate the importance of health habits at a very stage or development., in life among the students needs an effort to achieve it.

The school provides a unique opportunity for health education, a means of establishing a firm foundation for the health habits of the future adult population. By safeguarding the health of the children of today one is ensuring the health of the adults of tomorrow (Lucas and Giles, 2003). It is universally recognized that the health of school children deserves special attention. In order to derive maximum benefit from the educational programme, the child must be healthy, physically, mentally, and emotionally (Lucas and Giles, 2003). They further assert that children at school are exposed to a variety of hazards ranging from physical injury, and infection, to emotional problems. School age is a period during which the child is undergoing rapid physical and mental developments. A healthy environment is required to provide the child with appropriate adjustments that are required during this critical period.

Due to family income, low level of education of the parents and unfavorable areas, in addition teaching of health education should begin at home as soon as the child is able to handle, recognize and identify things and also being able to make use of his/her sense organs in terms of personal cleanliness to ensure that the normal body does not suffer, cleanliness of the body enhances the health of the students through the reduction of germs infesting the human body.

Health education can being with anything and had ports on almost everything that has to do with man’s activities such as cleaning, playing, sweeping, brushing, dusting, tiding up washing of everything individuals can think of so far these reasons, public lectures on health education should be given occasionally and especially to students as regards to the causes and effect of poor health habit. This will uplift the level of well being, prolong human health improve individual quality.

Educators have a direct impact on many of these areas and it is important to have a well-developed understanding of the contributing factors so appreciate decisions about interventions can be made especially if they affect parental involvement, it is important to note that contributing factors to the health of the students is not limited to in school only. Nutrition at home and parental involvement at home are important factors.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effect of Poor Health on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that a lot of factors are responsible for the poor health on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students. This is the reason why the researcher wishes to look for the following problems which are:

1. Lack of adequate devotion of the parents to the upbringing of their children.
2. Improper guidance of children by parents.
3. Peer pressure.
4. Lack of health education in various schools.
5. Parent orientation on health issues.
6. Lack of toilet facilities bin schools.

Perhaps, the negligence of the school health services by the responsible ministries (Health and Education) is attributable to the low level of academic performance and absenteeism in Secondary Schools in the area under review.

Despite the effort of the government to improve the facilities of school health services, cases of infection remain high among students in post primary schools. It is therefore not clear how adequate the health services in Edo State are. In view of this state of affairs in the Ministry of Education of Edo state, it is not clear what kind of health services are provided in secondary schools of Edo State and to what extent they are maintained and utilized. This study was therefore an attempt to identify the Effect of Poor Health on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to investigate the Effect of Poor Health on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the influence of health conditions on academic performance of Secondary School Students in the area under review.
2. To elaborate the responsibilities of parents as regards the health habits of their children still in their early stage of development;
3. To determine whether the nature of the school administration has influence the healthy habit exhibited by students;
4. To examine the importance of physical health education and the aim of studying it in Secondary School; and
5. To suggest ways in which parents can help in improving the health of their Secondary School Students in the area under review.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does lack of toilet facilities in the school compound affect the health of the students?
• Does the occupation of the parents affect the health condition of the students?
• Does lack of healthy life style affect the health of the students?
• Does lack of health educators in various secondary schools affect the health of the students?
• Does lack of adequate devotion in the upbringing of the students affect their health?
• What is the adequacy of school health program provided among secondary school students in the area under study?
• What is the level of awareness about School Health Program among secondary school students in the area under study?
• What is the influence of health conditions on academic performance of Secondary School Students in the area under review?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There are no significant factors influencing health conditions on academic performance of Secondary School Students in the area under review
• H1: There are significant factors influencing health conditions on academic performance of Secondary School Students in the area under review

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1.7 Significance of Study

The findings of this research will be beneficial to both the school students, the parents and society at large, the environment, school officials and educators can become, more aware of the problems surrounding the health of their students and implement better practice during class time. Parents can take information, provide implement healthier activities and options at home during and after school year ends.

School officials can implement programme and adopt school-wide programs that will benefit the overall health of their students. Students can learn better habits that will contribute to their overall wellness and development.

This study will be of immense benefit to researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of the Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Effect of Poor Health on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

The following terms were used in this study:

Health:

A state of complete mental, physical and social well being of the students

Life Style:

The way in which an individual or a group lives

Habit:

A thing that a person does often and almost without thinking especially something that is hard to stop.

Diet:

The food that s person, community etc. habitually eats and drinks

Upbringing:

The treatment and education one receives as a child especially from parents.

Cleanliness:

The habit of being clean or keeping things clean.