THE ROLE OF CABLE TV IN THE EDUCATION OF SECONDARY GIRLS IN OWERRI

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

The role of the media on the psychological development of the child is profound. It has become something of a cliché to observe that despite many decades of research and hundreds of studies, the connection between people's consumption of the mass media and their subsequent behaviour has remained elusive.

Cable TV has proliferated all over the country.

A variety of channels are available to the viewers and viewers have favoured them. As a result, the viewership for channels like CNN, BBC, African Magic, AIT, Nollywood, Super sports and STAR TV is increasing gradually. Various types of programmes are being telecast by these channels such as, news, serials, sports, film based programmes and music programmes.

This has affected adversely the cinema houses in many cities as the percentage of people who prefer to watch movies in theatre has gone down by 25 to 40 per cent. Studies have shown that the expansion of cable and satellite TV will have profound effect on children, i.e. on their studies, work habits, play activities, sleeping pattern, their relationships with others, etc. The expansion of TV viewers through satellite, cable TV has enormously increased the scope for advertising. With the coming of satellite television in Nigeria, children spend up to four hours every day watching Cable TV programmes.

It provides them thrill and entertainment which does not add to their knowledge or creativity. According to several school principals, children were showing behavioural abnormalities which leads to poor performance. They were reading and writing much less and generally suffering from under exposure to printed material.When cable television was first introduced in Nigeria, it was the entertainment programmes that caught and held the attention of the audiences.

These programmes as was observed had very low educational content; this perhaps had a lot to do with the literacy level in the country then.

Since most secondary students belong to adolescent age, they seem to be easily influenced by what they see and or hear (environment) they are a very mobile group gaining access to several cable television stations and programmes. By their use of cable television, there is every likelihood for an increase in their knowledge, career choices, and behaviour through the programmes they watch.

Cable television has been used to provide information which makes viewers to be in closer touch with places far and near.

It provides entertainment and education to the viewers, it familiarises the school student with an entirely new world of facts and fictions. The cable television is such a powerful medium that changes the attitudes of students in particular and forms habit that reflects those represented in various cable television programmes. Some parents see the cable television as something that is expensive, waste children's time and corrupt while others see it as an effective teaching aid.

Against the above, the role of cable television in the education of secondary girls in Owerri will be studied.

This research will identify the academic and behavioural changes prevalent in our secondary school students as a result of time spent in viewing cable television programmes, the type of programmes they prefer to watch and the influences of viewing these programmes on the academic performance of the secondary students. This research will expose to the public behaviours and attitudes of students which comes from imitating Cable TV characters.

The finding will encourage parents to monitor the type of programmes their children are exposed to and advise them to adopt healthy life styles. It is hopes that findings will help students know the implications of imitating scenes from movies. School Counsellors and Principals will know how to better handle some student's issues as they occur in schools.

It is hoped that the study will be helpful to those responsible for planning cable TV programmes as it will expose them to some of the problems arising from the programmes televised. It is also hoped that the study will be helpful to other students who might want to consult it for further studies.

---

1.2 Statement of Problem

A lot of people claim there is no observable impact of cable television in the education of students, yet parents and teachers have shown much concern about the effect of cable television on our young people. in the light of which Maduewusi (2005) called for utmost caution in Cable TV programme production.

Cable TV has the potentials to generate both positive and negative effects. Dietz and Strasburger (1991). It is therefore unfortunate that great deals of Cable TV shows which students have devoted their time to view are not educational. Studies by Johnson, Cohen, Smailes, Kasen and brook (1999), show that the average adolescent spends more time watching cable television than in the classroom.

The time spent watching television, has been attributed to being one of the causes of the fallen standard of education in developing countries like Nigeria. The time spent viewing cable TV frequently limits the time for reading, studying and developing other necessary physical, mental and social skills. It is against this background that the researcher is carrying out this study designed to identify the role of cable television in the education of secondary girls in Owerri.

---

1.3 Objectives / Purpose of the Study

The following objectives have been formulated for the present investigation.

1. To find out the study habits of cable TV viewers,
2. To identify the influence of Cable TV on the academic performance of students.
3. To know the influence of Cable TV on career choices of students.
4. To identify the behavioural changes prevalent in our students as a result of time spent in viewing Cable television programmes and type of programmes they prefer to watch and the influences of viewing these cable TV programmes on the behaviour of the students.
5. To know if Cable Television improves and develops the standard of education and to what extent the students benefit from it.

---

1.4 Research Questions

The following research questions will be answered to meet the objectives of the study.

• Does Cable TV viewing influence student's study habits?
• Does Cable TV viewing influence the career choices of students?
• Does Cable TV viewing influence the academic performance of students?
• Does Cable TV viewing influence ill-social behaviour in students?
• Does Cable TV viewing improve the standard of education in Nigeria?

---

1.5 Scope of the Study

This study is restricted to students only in Girls High School Owerri. Also, while investigating the role of cable TV in the education of Secondary students, the researcher shall limit herself to the educational aspect of the student's lives.

---

1.6 Significance of the Study

The needfulness of this study can never be overstressed. The significance of the study is on the education of secondary students as a result of Cable TV viewing and exposure. It is to identify its benefits and challenges to societal growth and development especially in this twenty first century of educational and youth advancement the present generation knowledge oriented.

It is an indicator to know well how students have adopted to the Cable TV Programmes they expose themselves to.It exposes the Nigerian students to active information flow around the world rather than local passive observers.

It is beneficial to the youths as the future leaders and avails them the opportunities to have a holistic view of an ideal society. This would reduce to its barest minimum student's delinquency. A Nigerian student who is not well informed would constitute societal blunder but a well informed student is a plus to societal development.

The finding will encourage parents to monitor the type of programmes their children are exposed to and advise them to adopt healthy life styles. It is hopes that findings will help students know the implications of imitating scenes from movies. School counsellors and principals will know how to better handle students' issues as they occur in schools.

It is hoped that the study will be helpful to those responsible for planning Cable TV programmes as it will expose them to some of the problems arising from the programmes televised. It is also hoped that the study will be helpful to other students who might want to consult it for further studies. This research remains for further research. Another significance is that it can serve as an academic source to fill knowledge gap.

---

1.7 Delimitation and Limitation:

Delimitation:

The research is to examine the role of Cable TV in the education of Secondary Students.The researcher has decided to choose Girls High School Owerri as a case study. The decision is justified by the fact that the Nigerian students are identical in almost all respects. Since the researcher cannot lay hold on all the students watching Cable TV in Owerri in their closest environment from a ready population for data gathering. The focus will be on the educational impact the cable TV has on the lives of students.

This means that the impact on their social, political, religious and other aspects of their lives will be downplayed on.

Limitation:

A research carried out by human beings is bound to have limitations. This research deals principally on the role of Cable TV in the education of Secondary students.

The study is limited by many factors among them are:

1) Limitation of researcher both in financial and time resources: This research work is not funded by government research agencies or academic bodies but is strictly funded through the financial strength of the researcher who is a full time student with no source of income except the merger allowance from the parents and guidance. This financial constraint has affected the researcher in no small measure as any good research is based on fund and time which the researchers were not lucky to have.

2) Another limitation was the lack of co-operation from the school Mgt. And students in the process of administering the questionnaire and conducting interviews.

3) Secrecy Although these factors exist, determination and effort will be made for relevance of the study.