School Plant Maintenance and Students Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Bayelsa State

Abstract:

This study investigates school plant maintenance and students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Bayelsa state. The correlational survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of this study was eighty-two thousand, five hundred and eighty-two (82,582) students of the 191 public secondary schools in the eight (8) Local government areas of Bayelsa state. A sample of 300 students was drawn from 12 schools, having a total population of 5120 students was sampled for this study. The instrument that was used for data collection in this study was a self-structured 4-point Likert Scale Modified questionnaire titled: School Plant Maintenance and Students Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools Questionnaire. (SPMSAPPSSQ). A test–retest method was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument. The two sets of scores were computed using Pearson product moment correlation to determine the reliability index value 0.72 while the hypothesis is at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study revealed that maintenance of a blackboard helps the students to see clearly, thereby enhancing their academic performance; the maintenance of ICT building enables students to take part in ICT classes effectively and that steady maintenance of the library makes it possible for reliable and current books to be available for students to study widely. The study concludes by establishing the relationship between school plants maintenance and students’ academic performances in public senior secondary schools in Bayelsa State and recommended that government and schools board should often investigate the level of fitness and stability of school plants and embark on renovation and replacement of dilapidated and worn-out facilities in order to promote students’ academic performances.