CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSES AND EFFECT OF MASS FAILURE OF MATHEMATICS IN SENIOR
SECONDARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION (CASE STUDY OF UYO LGA AREA OF AKWA IBOM STATE)
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Background of the Study
For Nigeria to realize her dream in the development of Senior Secondary School, the citizens of the country must show outstanding performance in all secondary school subjects.In recent years, student academic achievement in senior secondary school certificate examination mathematics. The word “Mathematics” is a Greek word, meaning things that are learned. Majasa (1995) further defined it as the science of counting, measuring and describing of the shape of objects. It deals with logical reasoning and quantitative calculations. Mathematics as a school subject is recognized as the foundation of science and technology without which a nation will never become prosperous and economically independent. This underscores the importance of mathematical competence of all the learners al all levels of education and a reason for making mathematics compulsory and one of the leading core subject in the secondary schools curriculum. This importance accorded the recognition of the vital role it plays in contemporary society. Despite the eort put in by government, and various stakeholders of education, mathematics still remained one of the most difficult subject in schools. There is a general impression that mathematics is difficult by its very nature, and because of this impression, there is poor performance among senior secondary school students who are the focus of this study. This poor performance in mathematics has been attributed to two broad factors which include: Hereditary and environmental factors which can be subdivided into students, home, teachers, and school factors. Ola (1998). However, students reason that mathematics is highly structured and is so abstract and required special intellectual attitude. Thus; students see the subject as something esoteric. Emenalo (1986) in Nwogu (1990) articulated the fact that inherent notion held by many Africans that mathematics is a very difficult subject which is capable of making one “mad” is at the centre of the phobia which students exhibits for mathematics and which had claimed many causalities over the years, Nworgu (1990:123), therefore passes the question “how them would any person in fairness expect our poor and innocent children to be as courageous as to face something which is capable of making even an adult mad? The students would prefer to so something else no matter how
difficult rather than to attend mathematics classes.