CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Education is an essential ingredient for the development of any society and is seen as a pathway to raising political, social awareness as well as upholding the level of manpower (Onyara, 2013). According to Yara and Otieno (2010), education is a fundamental human right. The pivot to sustainable development, peace, and stability within and among countries is the provision of quality education to their citizens (Oguntuase, Awe, & Ajayi, 2013).
Teaching of agricultural science at the secondary school requires a sound background in theory and practical aspects by the teachers of agriculture. The new 6-3-3-4 system requires that agriculture be taught as pre-the subject at the primary and junior secondary schools and as a the subject in senior secondary school level (National Policy on Education, 2004). The 6-3-3-4 educational system in Nigeria includes six years of primary education, three years of junior secondary (pre-the) education, three years of senior secondary education and varying tertiary education period of not less than four years. Although this system of education has remained fairly constant since it became government policy, there have been some slight modifications in government commitment towards the provision of basic education to Nigerians. For instance, the scope of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme has been extended to nine years, which includes six years of primary education and three years in junior secondary school. The delivery of the agriculture at the senior secondary level should not be handled as a science per se but rather as a the subject for acquisition of practical agricultural skills for meaningful living (Obi, 2005). Olaitan (1997) maintained that the basic goal of our National Policy on Education is to make education both functional and utilitarian. Ikeoji (1999) reported that the education is borne out of the need for the system to make its products useful to themselves. The Federal Ministry of Education (as cited by Obi, 2005) stated that the objectives of agricultural education at the senior secondary should include; To stimulate and sustain students interest in agriculture; To enable students acquire useful knowledge and practical skills in agriculture; To prepare students for further studies in agriculture; and To prepare students for occupations in agriculture. Observation has shown that as laudable as the objectives of agricultural and the education in Nigeria are it may be impossible to achieve them due to poor delivery process of the programme and inappropriate method of evaluating the performance of students in the agriculture at the senior secondary school (Ikeoji, 1997a, 1998). Martin and Odubiya (1991) reported that the primary role of the agriculture teachers has always been to help students to learn knowledge and skills in agriculture.
In quest to determine the availability and adequacy of teachers in secondary schools, Several researches have shown that many teachers of agriculture at the secondary school leave the profession early in their life (Myers, Dyer and Washburn, 2005;HeatCamp and Camp, 1990,1994). Myers et al 2005; Camp, Broyles and Skelton, 2002; Mundt and Connors, 1999; and Veenman, (1984) have conducted studies on the problems of beginning teachers of agriculture. These problems of beginning teachers include classroom management and student discipline, balancing work and personal life, managing stress, lack of preparation time at beginning of school year, time management, and motivating students. Others were dealing with individual differences, assessing students work, relationships with parents, organization of class work, inadequate teaching materials and supplies, and dealing with problems of individual students (Myers, et al 2005; Mundt and Connors, 1999; Nicholas and Mundt, 1996; Mundt, 1991; Heath-Camp and Camp, 1990; Barrick and Doerfert, 1989; Veenman, 1984)
Many countries in Africa are paying attention to invest in education from primary, secondary and tertiary levels. However, the main challenge is poor academic performance of students (Miller & Yodar, 2002). In Botswana, for example, the government is offering free basic education to all the children attending school.
In addition, the government supports education from primary to secondary level. To achieve this, the Ministry of Education receives a heavy share of the country’s budget (Matambo, 2013). Despite all the efforts by the government on education, the students’ academic performance has been declining lately from 2010 (Luke & Mavis, 2014).
Teacher availability and adequacy can compromise the quality of education (Boyd & Barbarin, 2008).To identify the availability and adequacy of teachers in the learning environment, the student-teacher ratio (STR) need to be determined. STR will tell whether an institution is having adequate teachers or not. The advantage of having low STR is reducing the number of students to be handled by a teacher in the classroom. This ensures the teacher’s attention to the students and thus good academic performance. On the other hand, high STR will mean that a teacher will have to handle a large number of the students in the classroom at the same time. Students’ academic performance is affected by the transfer of teachers from schools without replacements leading to lack of enough teachers’ thus affecting teacher-student ratio (Wanyama, 2013).