Economic Recession and Science Students’ Enrolment in Senior Secondary School in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated economic recession as a determinant of Science Students’ Enrolment in South West Nigeria. The research design of the expo-facto type was adopted for the study. The study population consisted of all public Senior Secondary School Science Students in South West Nigeria. This entails 360 science students who enrolled for 2017, 2018 and 2019 sessions in the stated schools. The selection of the schools was done through Multistage Sampling procedure. A research question was raised and three research hypotheses were formulated for the study. Inventory of Senior Secondary School Science Students Enrolment-list (ISSSSSE) was used as an instrument for data collection. Data collected were analysed using Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation and t-test. Findings from the study revealed that economic recession determined the numbers of science students who enrolled in these three consecutive years used for the study. Also, a significant difference was recorded in science students’ enrolment in urban and rural areas in favour of urban area. Gender has no significant difference on the enrolment of science students based on the result from the findings. It was recommended based on the findings that government should avert any problem that could result into economic recession for sustainable development of education. Also, government should try to make policies that will favour social-economic development in the rural areas of the country. Parents should have a sort of understanding that science subjects are not just for the male child, but that girls can as well perform excellently in science subjects.