CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
    Education is a universal phenomenon which allows all human societies to develop to prerequisite knowledge, experience and skills for their preservation and growth. It is a tool for imparting knowledge, a process by which an individual acquire the physical, social, intellectual and moral capabilities required to function effectively and become useful member of his/ her society. It is instrument par excellence for effecting national development (FRN, 2004), as well as for individual socio- economic empowerment and poverty reduction. For education to be useful in proper manpower development, it has to be functional.
     Education may be described as a process to teaching or instruction received; a process of training and improving one’s test and life standard. Education has been described as the bedrock of every society and a tool for nation building (Okonkwon & Udeze (2012). Ablumanuyu (2007) stressed that education contribute to the individual personal development, increases his/ her productivity and income at work and facilitate participation in economic and social life. In recent times, quality education was brought to focus owing to the neglect and mass production of educated people without regards to set standard procedure and process in education. In the words of Adams (2011), he opines that the taste in education is carried an evident in its quality. Unless quality and functionality is assured in the system, education will amount to nothing. Thus, quality education is said to be right to every citizen, not a privilege that may be granted or withhold by whoever is in- charge to provide it. For quality education to be achieved, it is important to know that the principal factor must be in place that is the teachers, who must be adequate in quality and standard, with a conducive working environment to adequately produce quality graduate for effective national development. Adegbesan (2010) agrees with the above assertion when he posited that people and nations are what they were because of the nature and type of education they have been expose to. Unfortunately, education in Nigeria in its present form is devoid from standard, quality and functionality (Balogun, 2012). The demise of quality and functionality especially in the Nigerian education system has further been slaughtered on the corridor of the struggle to obtain or secure a certificate as a meal ticket and further build prospect in politics (Oduma, 2013).
    Education imparted through quality instruction is not only for good grades alone but also for the acquisition of the right values, skills and competences to make an individual a useful member of the society. The quality of education of any nation to a very large extent determines the development and status of the particular nation. Education is synonymous to heartbeat of any nation. As a man nourishes his heart to be alive, a nation must also cater for her educational system to keep it ‘alive’ technologically, economically, politically, socially and to ensure quality products.
    According to Madumere (2003), education consumes a lot of public revenue; therefore it is important to note that those who manage schools should be accountable to the stakeholders. The quality of the products f education is part of the accountability. The wastage in the education sector and the fast falling standard of education in Nigeria has made it imperative for quality control measure to be constantly examined. This study thus set out to investigate quality control and student’s academic performance in senior secondary schools in Ilorin metropolis.
Statement of the Problem
The rapid growth in Nigerian population alongside with the alarming rate of civilization, westernization and social awareness have placed education on high demand. The acquisition of Western education is predominate in the minds of average Nigerian and would want to incur any cost to acquire it. In response to this, both the private and public sectors of the economy, parents and all other stakeholders have risen to the task, and are predominately concerned about quality of education and its sustainability.
    The deteriorating quality of education which has continued unabated impinges heavy traumatic effects on Nigerian citizens and the nation as a whole (Adewuya, 2002; Alumoda, 2006 and Ezenwafor, 2006). As noted by Gidado (2003) indicators of declining quality and wastages include high dropout, failure rates, rampant examination malpractices and low performance in national survey of achievement. Effective school quality reform that can stand the text of time must go beyond quality control practices. Without quality, education becomes a waste, products become largely counter productive, half baked and of little relevant to the nation’s socio-political and economic development.