COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA

Background to the study

Agricultural Science subject is part of the vocational subject taught in primary schools and secondary school which inculcated the process of farming in all its branches and among other things includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any Agricultural commodities, the raising of livestock or poultry, and any practices performed by a farmer on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with some farming operations, and it may include the manufacturing or processing of coconut, tobacco, pineapples or other farm products (Bolens, 1997). The general objectives of Agricultural science subject are to: stimulate and sustain students‟ interest in farming; demonstrate that farming is a dignified and paying occupation; enable students to acquire basic agricultural knowledge, practical skills and attitudes; enable students to integrate agricultural knowledge and skills in solving agricultural problems of their families and societies; prepare students for employment in farming and/or further studies in agriculture (URT, 1997). Agricultural science subject has been taught as a core subject in ordinary level secondary schools since its introduction in 1972 up to 2004 when the government phased it out. The reason for phasing it out was to avoid placing students prematurely into vocational programmes which might not meet their future career preferences as well as the teaching process of the subject which was thought to unable students to master both vocational and cognitive skills at the end of the teaching and learning cycles, thus rendering them 2 incapable of undertaking self or direct employment in the formal and informal sectors (Young, 2011). The government‟s decision to phase out the subject met with a lot of resistance from educational stakeholders whether it was appropriate decision or not. Agricultural science subject is the course of study which involves teaching about crop production, livestock management, soil and water conservation and various other aspects of agriculture such as nutrition which improves the quality of life for all people by helping farmers increase production, conserve resources and provide nutritious foods (Schultz et al., 2008). In this study, Agricultural science subject refers to a course of study in ordinary level secondary schools which is among optional subjects in the prevocational subjects‟ group which mainly deals with crop and livestock production as well as basics of agricultural mechanisation, economics and soil science. Private Secondary school is known as independent schools (non-governmental) or nonstate schools that are not administered by local, state or national government, they retain right to select their student and are funded in whole or in part by charging their student tuition fees, rather than relying on mandatory taxation through government funding, but they must operates based on government stated curriculum and scheme of work from ministry of education (Heins and David, 2004). Public secondary schools are those operated, funded and overseen by government. (Thattai and Deeptha, 2001 ). Most of the private schools are funded, conducted and maintained by a private group rather than by government, usually charging tuition and then followed stated curriculum and syllabus as the same with the public schools operated by government (Withan and Joen, 1997). 3 The overall objective in every teaching –learning interaction as usually required is to bring about harmonious development of the individual and acquisition of the desired knowledge, values and skills to enable him/her function in a particular way. The process of teaching needs to be supervised for effective teaching- learning process. The syllabus and curriculum system must be given special care and consideration so as to achieve the desired objectives. Thus, when curriculum system is ensured in every school, there will be positive developments that will bring permanent change in the behavior of the learner signifying that learning has taken place. The teaching and learning of Agricultural science as a subject in secondary schools in the world reveals an evolution from vocational basis in the first half of the 20th century (Laugo, 2009). Interest in teaching and learning Agricultural science in secondary schools seems to be growing because many governments are seeking assistance to implement the subject (Laugo, 2009). The World Bank has been investing heavily in the implementation of Agricultural science subject in secondary schools but there have been limited studies on its effectiveness on economic development (World Bank, 2005). Because the Agricultural science subject weds academic or general subjects with some degree of vocational learning, students can develop not only vocational skills in the field of agriculture, but also cognitive skills to prepare them for university studies in agriculture (Yamada, 2001).

BUY THIS TOPIC ON WHATSAPP

Related Project Materials

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Nigerian political history dated back to the pre-colonial era. The various&...

Background to the