CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background of the Study According to B. F. Skinner (1964), “Education is what survives when what had been learnt had been forgotten” Learning is said to have taken place when there is a permanent change in behavior as a result of experience, knowledge and understanding as defined by Yaw Asamoah – Addo in his book “self-tuition”. Education is the key to development of a country. Out of education comes the human resource (work force) of the country, for instance doctors, teachers, etc. In the light of this government provides facilities for formal education to take place smoothly. Examples furniture, school buildings, teaching learning materials. Non – governmental organization, District Assemblies and some individuals help in the provision of educational materials. Government trains teachers and also provides in – service training for teachers to sharpen their professional skills. Subjects’ areas are made available to cater for students and pupils interest for example science, Business, General Arts etc. Registers are also provided to check absenteeism and lateness to school. All these provisions are made to enable pupils go through the formal educational system so that they can acquire occupational skills. In spite of all these efforts made by different stakeholders of education, some pupils still play truancy. This issue of truancy is common at Domfete R/C JHS. The researcher has therefore decided to research into the problem, find the effects and suggest possible solutions. Before a child can perform averagely if not above average, he or she must take part in all the activities of the class and this involves punctuality. Truancy is the act of regularly absenting oneself from school without permission. From the above definition, truants are children who absent themselves from school regularly without permission. From encyclopedia, “truancy refers to the shirking of responsibility”. A truant is a person who deliberately stays away from duties at school or in a job because the person dislikes the place, people or the responsibilities. Domfete is the town where the problem was detected. It is a small community and the population is about two thousand (2,000.00). The major occupations in the area are marketing / trading and farming. The pupils engage themselves into one of these occupations instead of going to school regularly. As the saying goes, punctuality is the sole business for any kind of business to succeed; there should be a degree of punctuality. This is not different in educational set up. This is the reason, why the researcher wanted to investigate into the effects of truancy on pupil’s academic performance at Domfete R/C JHS and find out possible ways of preventing this situation in and around Domfete Statement of the Study It is important to note that formal education plays a very significant role in our homes communities and the nation as a whole. Though formal education is brought to us by our colonial masters, it is now established in the nationwide with a growing body of literacy associated with it. Even though we derived some benefits from formal education some pupils still play truant. Due to this reason the researcher wanted to investigate into the effects of truancy on pupils’ academic performance at Domfete R/C JHS. The problem of truancy has been identified at the researcher’s school of attachment during the out programme. Purpose of the Study. The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of truancy on pupil’s academic performance at Domfete R/C JHS. Thus to suggest solution to the problem of truancy and create the awareness of parents and teachers to motivate their pupils and avoid being truants. Research Questions 1. What are the effects of truancy on pupils’ academic performance at Domfete R/C JHS? 2. How does the effect of truancy affect pupils’ academic performance at Domfete R/C JHS? 3. What are the solutions of the effects of truancy on pupils’ academic performance at Domfete R/C JHS? Significant of the Study The result of the work will benefit Ministry of Education and Ghana Education service to always call for in – service training for instructors and sometimes the parents about the important of education so that they will intend inculcate the zeal in children. The project will serve as a reference for teachers in guiding them to look at the effects and solutions to truancy. This will help them study the recommendations and suggestions made which will in effect help them motivate their pupils to benefit from school programme and stop playing truancy. It will also serve as a reference for future research. It will help the non-governmental organizations to improve upon the physical classroom environment to be attractive to pupils and study in and also to assist brilliant but needy pupils. The work will benefit the directors of education to always send teachers to the rural areas to introduce effective programmes towards teaching and learning. Delimitation of the Study The researcher has decided to limit his study to the effects of truancy. Also it could have been the wish of the researcher to extend the study to cover the whole Berekum West circuit but due to time and financial constraints the researcher decided to limit himself to Domfete R/C JHS. The researcher wanted to use all the pupils in Domfete JHS as a source of obtaining relevant information for this project. Despite this hope, however the researcher realized that he will not come out with successful result. Hence the researcher work was conducted at Domfete R/C JHS 1 only. Limitation of the Study The period allocated for the study affected the findings as it was too short for a study of this nature especially when the same period was also used for the classroom work, lesson notes preparation and other equally important responsibilities. Secondly, the people interviewed were reluctant to respond to the questions asked because they thought it was a way to expose their shortcomings. Similarly, to the above points is the fact that some of the pupils selected for the study were not always in school; or in class due to the truancy and this also affected the findings. Organization of the Study This work comprises five chapters. Chapter one deals with the background of the study. There is also statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions, significant of the study, delimitation of the study, limitation of the study, and organization of the study. Chapter two deals with the review of literature. Here, works of authors related to research work were look at. Chapter three deals with methodology. Negotiation for Access, The Population of the Study, The Sample, Sampling procedure, Research instrument, Data Administration and Intervention Measures. Chapter four comprises of presentation and analysis of data. Chapter five deals with the Summary, Suggestions, Recommendation and Conclusions. It also comprises of the Bibliography and the Appendices.
