CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

A slum is a heavily populated urban informal settlement characterized by substandard housing and squalor. While slums differ in size and other characteristics from country to country, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement and other basic services. Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings that because of poor-quality design or construction have deteriorated into slums (UN-Habitat, 2007). Slums were common in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and Europe. More recently slums have been predominantly found in urban regions of developing and undeveloped parts of the world including Nigeria, but are also found in developed economies.

Slums sprout and continue for a combination of demographic, social, economic, and political reasons. Common causes include rapid rural-to-urban migration, poor planning, economic stagnation and depression, poverty, high unemployment, informal economy, colonialism and segregation, politics, natural disasters and social conflicts. According to Ali and Toran (2007), social networks might also explain rural-urban migration and people's ultimate settlement in slums. In addition to migration for jobs, a portion of people migrate to cities because of their connection with relatives or families. Once their family support in urban areas is in slums, those rural migrants intend to live with them in slums.

Lack of affordable low cost housing and poor planning encourages the supply side of slums. The Millennium Development Goals proposes that member nations should make a “significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers” by 2020. If member nations succeed in achieving this goal, 90% of the world total slum dwellers may remain in the poorly housed settlements by 2020 (UN-Habitat, 2007). It is worthy to note that the living condition of the slum dwellers will definitely discourage good academic performance.

Social exclusion and poor infrastructure forces the poor to adapt to conditions beyond his or her control. Poor families that cannot afford transportation, or those who simply lack any form of affordable public transportation, generally end up in squat settlements within walking distance or close enough to the place of their formal or informal employment (Patton, 1998). It should be noted that many of the leaders in Nigeria today and many successful academician had once lived in slums during their schooling age due to poor financial condition and ended up being successful, but larger percentage of their peers ended up as school drop outs.

Urban poverty encourages the formation and demand for slums. With rapid shift from rural to urban life, poverty migrates to urban areas. The urban poor arrives with hope, and very little of anything else. He or she typically has no access to shelter, basic urban services and social amenities (Sur et al, 2005). Slums are often the only option for the urban poor.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Researchers has pointed out a lot of factors that can influence students academic performance which includes poverty, peer pressure, family background, socio and economic status of parent, types of school, teachers qualification etc. students living in slum have no access to quality education, stable electricity, pipe borne water, good sanitary condition, good health facilities, good security to ensure adequate protection of life and properties. All these facilities are needed to prepare the students emotionally and psychologically for learning coupled with after school reading and learning. These necessitated this research on slum life and its effect on the academic performance of students.

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of this study:

1.  To examine the effect of slum life on students academic performance.

2.  To examine the causes and characteristics of slum.

3.  To identify measures of controlling the slums towards better students academic performance.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.  What is the effect of slum life on student’s academic performance?

2.  What are the causes and characteristics of slum?

3.  What are the measures of controlling the slums towards better student’s academic performance?

1.5   HYPOTHESIS

HO: There is no significant relationship between slum life and student’s academic performance.

HA: There is significant relationship between slum life and student’s academic performance.

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1.  The outcome of this study will educate the general public on the effect of slum life on student’s academic performance.

2.  This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area

1.7   SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study will cover the relationship between slum life and student’s academic performance.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

 Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work

REFERENCES

Patton, C. (1998). Spontaneous shelter: International perspectives and prospects, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Sur, Dipika; et al. (2005). "The burden of cholera in the slums of Kolkata, India: data from a prospective, community based study". Archives of Disease in Childhood 90 (11): 1175–1181.

United Nations Habitat (2007): Slums: Past, Present and Future.

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