CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Boarding schools are schools where the owners of schools take the full custodian of both upbringing and academic well- beings of the learners under their care during the academic session. The owners of schools may be governments or private individuals. Although, boarding schools owned by private individuals are relatively very expensive compared to the boarding schools managed by the governments (Keystone, 2016).
On the definition of boarding school, British Council (2020) defined boarding school as a residential school where pupils live and study during the school year. Based on this definition, the students in the boarding schools were accommodated in the school compound by the management of such schools. This implies that the school management takes full care of the students under their control, both academic and feeding during the academic session. Also, Linden Boarding School Tours (2020) saw boarding school as a college preparatory institutions where students and teachers live and study together in a safe and secure school environment. Linden Boarding School Tours (2020) definition of boarding school indicated that staff of such schools should be equally accommodated alongside with the students in a more secure and conducive school environment. Boarding school is a school equipped with rooms where the students live instead of living in their homes (Cambridge Dictionary, 1996). Also, Merriam-Webster (n.d) viewed boarding school as a school that provides meals and lodging for students. In addition, Hornby (2010) saw boarding school as a school where students can live within the school academic year.
A study conducted by Chaisemartin and Gurgand (2017) on the effects of boarding school for disadvantaged students in France. According to the authors, the result reveals that the disadvantaged students from boarding schools performed better than the day students.
Boarding schools offered the students the opportunity to learn on their own without distraction from their parents, especially in the evening. Since the school management takes care of their both academic and feeding, the students were strictly monitored by the school. Even in some cases, extra classes were organized for students in the boarding schools during the academic session and even when the academic is not in session (holidays) by the owners. There were some schools that operated both boarding and day schools. In a similar way, there were some schools that operated boarding schools only. With respect to school facilities, studies have shown that boarding schools possessed more facilities than the non-boarding schools (Maphoso & Mahlo, 2017). The availability of these basic facilities attracted parents to enroll their children in the boarding schools despite the expensive nature of the schools. Furthermore, parents believed that the academic achievement of the students in the boarding schools will be better than those students in the nonboarding schools.
According to Sparks (2015), strong students gained more knowledge in mathematics than the weak students. In some cases, weak students were left out because their parents were not residing in the school premises. In addition, boarding school is a disruptive form of schooling for students (Sparks, 2015).
Meanwhile, in the boarding schools, motivation, engagement, achievement, personality and psychological well-being of the students were put under control by the school management (Martin, Papworth, Ginns & Liem, 2014). According to the authors, boarding schools had all it takes to improve both the academic and well-being of the learners when compared to the day schools. Although, there were some problems associated with the boarding schools. One of such problems was bullying behaviour among the learners. This behaviour was common to both boarding and day students but was more among the students in the boarding schools (Pfeiffer & Pinquart, 2014). According to the researchers, one of the reasons why this bullying behaviour was common mostly among the students in the boarding schools was as a result of selecting effects. Pfeiffer and Pinquert (2014) further stated that if this ugly behaviour was not properly checked, it may have had negative effect on the life of the learners during and after the secondary education Okoye and Nnamani (2018) did a study on the extent of academic.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
It is presumed that Boarding schools in Nigeria are the best performing schools and suitable for students' academic excellence. Boarding schools have raised a good reputation in Nigeria when it comes to fostering students' academic success. In fact most best perfonning students in Nigeria have included a boarding section. However, itis still a mystery why most students change behavior after experiencing boarding school. Research shows that students develop sort of unruly behavior while in boarding section. Duffell (2006). So1ne of these behaviors greatly affect student performance negatively as some students develop wild behavior and adopt that kind for life time. Some of these behaviors include disrespect of elders, high level of stereotyping, homo sexuality tendencies and dishonesty which in most cases result into poor academic perf01mance. The fact that t most parents are very busy with their work, there by taking their students to boarding school is its self a problem, students miss out parental touch and love because they spend much time at school and not home with parents, this has widened the generation gap between parents and students, students become more attached to their teachers more than their parents. Parents do not notice the behavioral change in their children because they are ever at school, on the other side, teachers might not have enough time to observe critically the behavioral changes especially outside classes. This has been a “chance” for students to learn to do things that are not good for them which in the end affects their perfonnance. The fact that students intermix with others students from different cultures, they end up adopting their ways of life some of which are not necessary for academic excellence.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of Modern Boarding School System on Academic Performance and Social Integration of Undergraduate Students in selected Nigerian Universities
- To identify the challenges involved in Modern Boarding School System
- To find out the extent to which Modern Boarding School System improves or declines student undergraduate academic Performance and Social Integration
- To suggest solutions to the challenges associated with Modern Boarding School System
RESEARCH QUESTION
- What are the challenges involved in Modern Boarding School System?
- To what extent do Modern Boarding School System improves or declines student undergraduate academic Performance and Social Integration?
- What are the solutions to the challenges associated with Modern Boarding School System?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study has been developed to have relevance in the improvement of the education system of Nigeria.
The study will create awareness which will help to the community especially parents to understand the challenges involved in the type of schooling they will choose for their school age children and that will help them develop skills and societal accepted norms and behaviors. On this note, it should be noted that students at times have their interest in either boarding or day schooling sessions based on different views which sometimes is not good for their cognitive development.
It is therefore helpful for parents to understand the life style of secondary school for any session of study whether boarding or day basing on the findings of this research study
This research will also help the students to understand the pros and cons of boarding Schools so that they can cope with whatever they have been allowed to attend
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study will be centered on investigating Impact of Modern Boarding School System on Academic Performance and Social Integration of Undergraduate Students in selected Nigerian Universities.
The geographical scope of this study has set its limits on Nigeria.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Financial Constraints: The researcher was with limited funds and cannot visit all the areas to get responses from respondents but was able to get good information concerning the research topic.
Time Constraints: The researcher was involved in other departmental activities like seminars, attendance of lectures et.c which limited the time for the research but the researcher was able to meet up with the time assigned for the completion of the research work.
Definition of Terms
The following terms are identified by the researcher as important to the understanding of the study:
Boarding (or residential) schools – are in this research defined as schools where students stay internally during the school week (and sometimes during the weekend/ holidays). Boarding Schools have dormitory facilities and facilities for eating, studying and recreational activities. Usually there is accommodation for supporting and/ or teaching staff as well.
Academic performance: This refers to the performance that falls within specified standard. The specified standard is usually called pass mark and the pass mark is score above average which students are considered having passed and below which students are considered having failed.
Metropolis: it represents a city.
Co-Educational: A school with boarding and day students in the same school.
