PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS ON THE CAUSES OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOLS PUPILS

1.1 Introduction

Juvenile delinquency conduct has today become a very complex phenomenon because of the complexity of society. Many factors contribute to the development of Juvenile Delinquency among secondary students. Flanks (2016) has observed that disciplinary problems in school cannot be traced to a single variable alone, that all forces that combine to produce the behaviour cannot be identified nor can their relative influence be succinctly categorized. Despite this, few people have been able to identify the likely cause of delinquency in school. The society cannot exist without making mention of the school which is the major agent of change. Teachers have the primary obligation to help students to learn how to recognize and solve problems, comprehend new phenomena, construct mental models of these phenomena and, given a new condition, set goals and regulate their own learning (Akubua, 2013).

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, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

In Nigeria, primary education is a ladder to secondary and other higher education it is the education given to children from aged 6 to 11 plus. Since the rest of the education is built upon it, the primary level is the key to the success or failure of the whole system. Primary school serves as a major source of recruitment into secondary and other higher institutions of learning. Therefore, the national common entrance examination for entrance into secondary school and the joint matriculation examination (which is the qualifying examination for entrance into university, polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of education) in Nigeria the school certificate examination have been the instrument and criteria by which performance of students are measured.

A teacher’s ability to influence pupils’ delinquent behaviors depends on several variables. A teacher is expected to be effective and professionally well-grounded to perform the task of teaching. It is obvious that individuals who are subjected to such stress are bound to exhibit low and negative amount, which in essence may reflect in their output quality. In primary school, the recurrence of pupils’ delinquent behavior such as cultism, examination malpractices, sexual permissiveness, alcoholic and drug addiction, lying and dishonesty, disrespect for constituted authority, abortion, truancy, indecent dressing, bullying, rape, lateness, vulgarities and even suicide have been numerous issues to contend with. These goals will form the basis of primary education in all the state of the federation. However, our educational system (primary schools) have failed in the areas of character molding, morals behaviour and academic output various stories abound of students and young people vices of vandalization, robbery pick pocketing, tuggary, cultism etc furthermore, there is elders and for those in position of authority and for the work that the products of our school system exhibit.

Pupils spend most of the time in the classroom than the home and many of the behaviors they learn are in the classroom. The way and manner the teacher manages his/her classroom during lesson delivery can make or mar the pupils’ behaviors. Classroom management refers to all those essential teaching and learning activities which are highly necessary not only to create but also to maintain a supportive and orderly atmosphere. It includes planning and preparation of the materials, decoration of the classroom, creation of expectation, establishment and enforcement of rules and routines in the classroom (Tan, 2013).

Akubue (2013) observed that in its most routine level, classroom management concerns a large variety of straight forward activities such as simple ensuring discipline amongst students, maintaining and distributing classroom materials and routine custodial caring for students’ behavior.

Levin (2016) is of the view that, well qualified and competent teachers are better placed to manage their classrooms effectively than others. Teacher-pupil relationship is key to building well behave pupils in the classroom. When the relationship between the teacher and the pupils is cordial, pupils will always look forward to meeting that teacher. But if the relationship is not cordial, pupils will tend to run away and that may lead to truancy. Jones (2012) opined that, pupils prefer teachers who are warm and friendly. In the classroom, the interpersonal relationship between teacher and pupils is an important element in the pupils’ learning process and modification of pupils’ behaviors.

Therefore, in Onitsha North Local Government Area where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Perception of Teachers on the Causes of Juvenile Delinquency among Primary Schools Pupils.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the issue of juvenile delinquency in schools has always given school administrators sonic food for thought. These offences differ in rate of occurrence and level of seriousness; the more grave ones are robbery, use of drug, stealing, cultism, rape, murder, examination malpractice, prostitution. These Juvenile offences often attract tough penalties at the Juvenile Courts where such offenders are tried and those found guilty are usually sent to Remand Home or Reformatories.

Anderson et al. (2016) said that the behaviour of our youths has in recent years become an issue of national concern; it constitutes a cause for alarm from many quarters. Onyejiaku (2016) confirmed that delinquency has been from time immemorial a social evil and no society has condoned or encouraged it because it is a cankerworm that eats deep and destabilizes social fabric. It consists of behaviour by non-adults, which violates specific legal norms or standards of a particular social group with such frequency or seriousness that the delinquent individuals are marked by the society as bad and dubious characters.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Perception of Teachers on the Causes of Juvenile Delinquency among Primary Schools Pupils in Onitsha North Local Government Area. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine risk factors that prone Primary Schools Pupils to engage in illegal activities in Primary Schools Pupils;
2. To examine the effect of juvenile delinquency among primary school students.
3. To ascertain if solutions are given to the problem of juvenile delinquency in Primary Schools Pupils.

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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 individual risk factor such as low intelligence prone individual to delinquent conduct?
• Does lack of proper parental supervision prone children to illegal activity?
• Do children with mental health risk factor such as (taken high drugs) contribute to juvenile delinquency?

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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 is no significant mental health risk factor that contributes to juvenile delinquency
• H1: There is significant mental health risk factor that contributes to juvenile delinquency

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1.7 Significance of Study

This study will enable parents/guardian and even government makes education accessible to the young one’s at the foundation stage because a minor who does not receive proper education is moiré prone to become involved in delinquent conduct in the society. It will enable family(s) being the smallest functional unit of every society to know that lack of proper parental supervision conflict between and among parents (father and mother), physical and emotional neglect can influence a child negatively. The knowledge gained will help parents to culture, nurture and rear their children in accordance to societal norms.

Also, it will enable government to employ counsellors in public primary institutions in Nigeria and Edo State in particular and put machinery in place to guide the children against abuse of drugs that will make them to engage in illegal activities.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Perception of Teachers on the Causes of Juvenile Delinquency among Primary Schools Pupils in Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra 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).