Effect of Resource Factors and Quality of Instruction on Performance in Mathematics of Nigeria Secondary School Students

Abstract

It seems that educational system in Nigeria has undergone only quantitative improvement in terms of number of schools and students’ enrolment. However, there has been little effort in respect to the capacity to manage them through provisions of adequate financial, human, material and physical resources. Physical and material resources in secondary schools were discovered to be inadequate and poorly equipped. Some of the secondary school buildings were dilapidated, also the allocated financial resource, teaching and non-teaching staff are grossly inadequate compared with the students’ enrolment. The public, the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders in education are expressing serious concern about the consistency of the poor performance of secondary school students especially in mathematics. Increase in population and the government’s free education programs make people want to take advantage of the education provided. Provision of both professionally qualified and non-qualified teachers by government and non-state providers of education also appear not to ameliorate the problem of declining performances in mathematics. The effect of all these on the public secondary school student academic performance in mathematics concern the researchers of this study. It is against this background that the study sought to empirically investigates effect of resource factors and quality of instruction on performance in mathematics of Nigeria secondary school students.