CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The importance of material resources in the educational attainment of students cannot be overemphasized. Owoko (2010) asserts that the term "resources" encompasses not just instructional strategies and materials but also instructional time, teacher expertise, and knowledge gained from experience and training. The way special needs students are taught in inclusive classrooms differs from the "regular" curriculum. Special needs students could need longer class periods, different teaching strategies, and specialized expertise. This can be achieved by an increase in resources or by re-arranging available resources. Children with special needs are not required to meet the classroom standards rather the classroom meets the individual needs of all children (Bargsma, 2000). Puri and Abraham (2004) argues that school management and teachers should make efforts to identify and attend to learners with special learning needs for instance dietary needs especially pre-school. Oyugi and Nyaga (2010) note that teaching and learning resources include; peripatetic services, support staff (sign language interpreters and Braille transcribers), community involvement, regular and special teachers among others. Inadequate trained special education teachers and professional’s acts as an obstacle to implementation of inclusive education (Kochung, 2011).

        Education is therefore a connective tissue in the society. Okongo, Ngao, Rop & Nyongesa, (2015) revealed that the standard of education in Nigeria is falling, the problem of education emerged from the neglect which the sector suffered from the 1980s leading to the gradual erosion of the system. The problems include among others inadequate learning facilities such as lack of teaching tools and moderate classrooms and the acute shortage of qualified teachers (Okongo, Ngao, Rop & Nyongesa). For a teacher to attain the set goals of education and for students to gain from such teaching experience, the use of material resources is important. Material resources are all types of materials or facilities used in the teaching and learning process. These include books, government documents, artifacts, instructional sheets, computers, radio sets, television sets, social media and magazines among others (Janovsky & Brooks, 2015). They are used for teaching at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education. Material resources in secondary schools enhance and improve teachers’ competence; they also make learning more useful and meaningful to the students as they are being presented with a real-life experiences and materials for learning.

The use of material resources is seen to determine the academic performance of students in schools. Yusuf (2012) disclosed that academic performance is the knowledge and skills that students have mastered in a subject or a course, it is basically a measure of how well students have performed in the various assessment items set for them based on some educational criteria determined by professional educators.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Researchers over the years have adduced many reasons for the poor performance of students in economics which include among others poor teaching methods, lack of qualified teachers, lack of relevant textbooks, inadequate material resources and out dated curriculum content (Bukoye, 2019).These problems have led to the cases of students’ poor performance in the subject; efforts have been directed towards addressing the problem of poor performance of students which include use of formative testing procedures, use of different teaching methods, use of graded questions, use of relevant material resources as well as individualized resources. Despite all the importance attached to the use of material resources, there seems to be a problem in terms of employing and adequately using them. In line with the importance attached to various course modules in various tertiary institution in Nigeria, the continued poor performance of students in their various department may lead to ripple effects which may underline the future development of the country, because it limits the learner’s choice on career opportunities and also makes learning and mastering of the subject difficult, hence the set objectives of the subject may hardly be achieved due to poor performance of students. It is to this regard the study is based on the effect of material resources on the performance of undergraduate students using federal university markurdi, benue

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study seeks to determine the effect of material resources on the performance of undergraduate students. The objectives of the study are:

1. To determine the relationship between material resources and undergraduate students’ performance in federal university, markurdi, benue
2. To identify the types and availability of material resources federal university, markurdi, benue
3. To evaluate the importance of material resources to undergraduate students in federal university, markurdi, benue
4. To identify the factors affecting material resources and performance of undergraduate students in federal university, Markurdi, benue

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 The research questions are:

1. What is the relationship between material resources and undergraduate students’ performance in federal university, markurdi, benue?
2. What are the types and availability of material resources federal university, markurdi, benue?
3. How important are material resources to undergraduate students in federal university, markurdi, benue?
4. What are the factors affecting material resources and performance of undergraduate students in federal university, Markurdi, benue?

1.5 STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS

H0: there is no relationship between material resources and undergraduate students’ performance in federal university, markurdi, benue

H1: there is relationship between material resources and undergraduate students’ performance in federal university, markurdi, benue

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1.     The outcome of this research will create awareness to both the general public and students in federal university markurdi, benue about the effect of material resources on the performance of undergraduate students.

2.     This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the effect of material resources on the performance of undergraduate students, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study covers on the effect of material resources on the performance of undergraduate students with focus on federal university, Markurdi, benue state

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

MATERIAL RESOURCES: Material resources are materials found in the natural world that have practical use and value for humans. Material resources include wood, glass (which comes from sand), metals, edible plants, and plastics (which are made from natural chemicals). Renewable material resources, like glass, can be re-created easily.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: Academic performance is the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects. Teachers and education officials typically measure achievement using classroom performance, graduation rates, and results from standardized tests.