ANALYSING THE PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS ON THE CAUSES OF INDISCIPLINE AMONG POST-PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

Indiscipline has become a cancer eating deeply the educational sector. I hool system.

Indiscipline has become a social menace which t connotes the violations of school rules and regulations capable of obstructing the smooth and orderly functioning of the sc has caused several scholars or educationist unrest and sleepless nights.

Therefore, this study investigated the perception of teachers on the causes of indiscipline among post-primary school students.
Simple random sampling was used to select one hundred and fifty (150) teachers in Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

A self-designed questionnaire tagged “causes and consequences of indiscipline questionnaire (CCIQ) was used to gather the required information from the respondents.

The instrument has three sections containing items that revealed demographic information, cause of indiscipline and the consequences of indiscipline among post-primary school students.
The results revealed that the major causes of indiscipline among post-primary school students are: peer group influence which ranked 1st, poor child upbringing (home) ranked 2nd.

Other causes are connected to school factors and societal factors.

Six null hypotheses were formulated for the study.

The variables considered are religion, sex and length of service.
Based on the results of the findings of this study, various recommendations were made on the causes of indiscipline among secondary school students.

The major determinants of indiscipline derived i.e. Home, peer group, school, society and media houses should rise up to the responsibility of setting the youths on the right track.

. CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study
An almost universal anxiety exists in relation to curbing indiscipline in the schools. We have visions of loosing control to the extent that students are at best ignored and this makes them to engage in several undesirable acts.

The issue of indiscipline demands our serious consideration and resolution because of its visible impediment to national growth and development.
Indiscipline is a derivative of the word discipline. In an attempt to discuss indiscipline intensively, we need to discuss the concept of ‘discipline’.

Discipline is a multifaceted concept that is essential if effective learning and learning will take place in the school. According to the chamber twentieth century dictionary: discipline is a mode of life in accordance with rules; subjection to control.
Akinboye (1982) viewed discipline as a procedure of rules and strategies which lead the child to manage his/her behaviour patterns in such a way that he/she is able to maintain socially and culturally acceptable order.

Discipline represents a successful resolution of conflict between what an individual was to do and the limitations and restrictions imposed by the society in which he lives (Jimoh, 2002).
Adesina, (1980) defined discipline with reference to the school system as how students are taught to respect the school authorities, to observe the school laws and regulations and to maintain an established standard of behaviour.
‘Discipline’ in the school is now passing through an extended eclipse.

The problem of indiscipline permeates all facets of our life. It is better pictured by a cartoonist showing an agile horse ready to move but bugged and tied down by an ugly looking archer who is named “Indiscipline” (Yaroson, 2004).
Indiscipline is the direct opposite of discipline, Aiyepeku (1987) defines indiscipline as any act that does not conform with the societal values and norms.

He further stated that behaviours that are termed as acts of indiscipline as any and norms.

He further stated that behaviours that are termed as acts of indiscipline in the school context include; stealing, rudeness, lateness e.t.c.
Okoye (1986), opined that behaviours that run counter to the values and expectation of the society and order of a community can be referred to as deviant behaviour. Omoegun (1995) noted that the school comprises of students from different homes and thus producer a complex set of behaviours which they exhibit positively or negatively.
So many measures have been taken to reduce indiscipline to a minimal level in our society.

War Against Indiscipline (WAI) was launched on the 20th of March 1984 by the regime of Buhari/Idiagbon to maintain discipline.

Also ICPC, EFCC were also launched among others to deal with various cases of indiscipline.

Today, the society is characterized with various forms of misconduct such as cultism, teenage parenting, drug addiction examination malpractices, delinquency, foul language, embezzlement, bribery, mismanagement as outlined by Asonibare and Mordi (1984).
The best way to solve a problem as observe by Morgan (1995), is to identify the causal factors, it is in this regard that a study on the causes of indiscipline among post-primary school students in the recent time is considered appropriate.
The choice of Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State is necessitated by the recent report that Kogi State is rated 2nd on the list of states involved in examination malpractice for the years 2002 – 2004 WAEC and NECO Exams; this indeed is a gross act of indiscipline.

Also, in 2009, a female student in SS (1) slapped a male teacher in one of the selected schools (Local government comprehensive secondary school, Kabba) for attempting to correct her.
Similarly a group of JSS 3 students left the class for a palm wine joint, drink themselves to stupor and returned back to the class, only to start destroying things.
In view of the above background, a study on the causes of indiscipline among post-primary school students in considered appropriate.

Statement of the Problem
Indiscipline has become a cancer eating deeply the educational sector and this situation therefore needs urgent attention several considerable works has been done on indiscipline from the review of literature. Such as Sutherland and Crespey (1960), Fasina (2001), Dixon (1967), Jimoh (2002), Adegoke (2003), to mention but a few.

Most of these educationists based their work on causes of indiscipline and how to maintain discipline in schools. for instance, Jimoh (2002) based his work on causes of indiscipline among the youth while Adegoke (2003) dedicated his work to teenage pregnancy and abortion as an act of indiscipline.
Most people often blame teachers for the misbehaviour of post-primary school students while the teachers in turn attributes such misconduct to parents.

Hence, there is need to investigate the cause of indiscipline among post-primary school students as perceived by the teachers to ascertain likely solutions to this problem.

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to find out the perception of teachers on causes of indiscipline among post-primary school students in Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State. The researcher tends to investigate and solicits the teachers opinion on the causes of indiscipline among post-primary school students.
It also looked into the extent to which indiscipline ahs affected post-primary schools in Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area and profer possible solutions