RURAL-URBAN DRIFT OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SOCIAL STUDIES IN UYO LOCAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE, AKWA IBOM STATE

Abstract

The study investigated rural-urban drift of teachers and students academic achievement. in Social Studies in Uyo Local Education Committee. Two research questions were raised and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at .05 level of significance. The descriptive survey design was adopted while the population of the study comprised 6,819 Junior Secondary Two (JS2) students in the fifteen (15) public secondary schools in Uyo Local Education Committee. A sample size of 378 Junior Secondary Two (JS2) was selected for the study using Taro Yamane sampling formulae. In order to get an appropriate sampled schools and students, a simple random sampling technique (hat and draw method) was used in the selection of nine (9) sampled schools as well as 42 students from each of the sampled schools for data collection. A self-structured questionnaire titled “Rural-urban Drift of Teachers and Students Academic Achievement in Social Studies Questionnaire (RDTSAASSQ)”’ was used for data collection. Mean and standard deviation statistics were used to answer the research questions while independent t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed a significant difference in students’ academic achievement in social studies based on staff strength andelassroom size due to rural-urban drift of teachers in the study area. Based on the study findings, it was concluded that low staff strength and overcrowded classroom instigated by rural-urban drift of teachers can impede positive academic achievement of students in school subjects. The researcher recommended among other things that, more social studies teachers should be employed particularly in rural schools in other to balance the number of teachers in urban schools.