CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The colonial education which was inherited by Nigeria was criticised for being too theoretical to be able to make meaningful impact on the life of Nigerians (Akinlua, 2007). Subjects taught in schools reflected the taste of the colonial education officials; hence school curricula were built around the existing colonial values. Students were supposed to mimic their teachers in subject like Mechanical Craft Practice which involved demonstration of competency. The same problem which informed dependency on past colonial education relics seems to have continued till date. Woolman (2001) was forced to comment on issue of this sort in his remark about African education. According to him, “African school systems today still follow the rigid structure of time periods and grade-level progression found in Western education.”

One definite thing expected of the educational institution to provide training to meet the demand for the human resource needs of the nation. The training of youth in the technical college aims at equipping them with useful skills and improving their knowledge in their desired areas of study. One such educational program that provides the youth opportunity to acquire skills and knowledge for effective nation building is the technical education program conducted in technical colleges.

Mechanical Craft Practice provides the youth with the practical skills in works pertaining to electrical installation, electrical windings, construction of electronic circuits, and maintenance work. However, it has been discovered that the persistently poor achievement of students in examination emanates mainly from the inappropriate teaching methods adopted by technical education teachers in the instruction of Mechanical Craft Practice as well as lack of adequate teaching facilities.

The realization of the objectives of technical college programmes and to improve students’ achievement in the National Technical Certificate Examination in Mechanical Craft Practice depends to a large extent on a number of factors. These factors include the availability and adequate supply of qualified teachers, provisions of equipment and facilities, proper implementation and usage of technical education textbooks on subject matter.

Doramola and Emmanuel (2000) stated that most Mechanical Craft Practice technical college graduates experience prolonged trial and error, and consequently perform poorly at the National Technical Certificate Examination (NTCE) and labour trade test examination. Daramola and Emmanuel further pointed out that this unsatisfactory situation could lead to breakdown in the economic, industrial, technological and educational growth of Katsina State, since the main goal of technical education is to achieve self reliance. Doramola and Emmanuel (2000), and Yalam and Fatuku, (2007) suggested the need for this study because of the challenges of increased unemployment (Faruk, 2005).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

It is apparent that there is an astronomical decline in students’ academic achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in technical colleges in Nigeria. Lack of success can lead to inappropriate behavior and frustration on the part of students (Igbo, 2007). In technical colleges, teachers are faced with the task of placing the students in an educational setting tailored to the students’ learning. The setting in which services are provided has a strong influence on the academic achievement of the students.

A number of reasons or factors have been found to have contributed to students’ poor achievement. Some of these factors include students’ study habits and teaching methods used by the teacher in the teaching-learning process (Yalam and Fatiku, 2007: 88). However, some researchers have attributed the poor performance of students to gender, as it is believed that technical trades and related tasks belong to male students. This is reflected in the ratio of male to female student enrollments in technical colleges. They further stated that the environment (urban and rural setting) also influences the academic achievement of technical college students as facilities are not available in rural locations. It appears to the researcher that Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State has been dwindling in recent times and the situation calls for immediate attention in order to arrest this deplorable situation. It is expected of the technical colleges to provide trained manpower in applied technology, particularly crafts and advanced crafts and to provide individuals with knowledge and vocational skills necessary for agricultural, commercial and economic development. It is also meant to provide training and impart the necessary skills on individuals who shall be self-reliant economically (FRN, 2004).

It appears that individuals expected to acquire the knowledge and skills stipulated by the national policy on education document are graduating from the technical colleges with unsatisfactory achievement. As recorded in NABTEB (2002) from the chief examiner’s report, basic electricity students who sat for the examination performed very poorly. Additionally, NABTEB certificate research conducted in Mechanical Craft Practice, May/June, 2004 recorded a 30% failure rate (NABTEB, 2004). This raises more questions as to whether or not adapting and understanding their teachers’ instructions, there are such factors as issues of males and females, and the enrollment of students in urban and rural areas which also influence this ugly trend. Thus, a correlation study for the Survey of Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State is desirable.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to identify the challenges students’ achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in national technical certificate examination in technical colleges in Katsina state.  The study in intended to:

1.   Find out strategies that can be adopted to improve Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State.

2.   Determine the school based factors that affect Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State.

3.   Find out socio-cultural factors that affect students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State

4.   Find out students’ personal factors that affect Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will enable Katsina State Government to improve the quality standard of Mechanical Craft Practice in technical colleges in Katsina State. It will provide the Mechanical Craft Practice teachers with new strategies for improving their teaching methods. And it will enable the students to identify courses of their failure in the examination so as to cure it.

1.5 Research Questions

1.   What are the strategies for improving students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State?

2.   What are the school based factors that affect Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State?

3.   What are the socio-cultural factors that affect Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State?

4.   What are the students’ personal factors that affect Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina State?

1.6 Scope/Limitation of the Study

          This study, will make findings for improving Students’ Achievement in Mechanical Craft Practice in National Technical Certificate Examination in Technical Colleges in Katsina Stat.

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