CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Child abuse has become a world-wide phenomenon. Generally, child abuse implies
physical or mental injury, negligent treatment or maltreatment. Child abuse is
committed only by those who are entrusted with the care of the child. Moreover
one other discernable thing here is that abuse becomes tenable only when it is
intentionally done. Of course this insinuation is not totally correct. Certain abuses
and heinous acts are committed unintentionally or rather out of ignorance. It is
pertinent to highlight here that child abuse is committed by any one, whether the
parents or others who committed acts of abuse against the child.

However, within the context of this study, Child abuse is perceived to include any
act of omission or commission by individual, institutions or society as a whole and
any conditions resulting from such acts or inaction, which deprive children of
equal rights and liberties and or interfere with their optimal development (Cook
and Bowles; 2012). Thus child abuse touches on fundamental human rights of the
child; it is hence antithetical to the laws of nature. The fundamental human rights
are derived from natural laws these include the right to life, right to exist, freedom
of thought and expression. These laws, inter alia are unalienable to man and
centres on the existential conditions of man.

Like other human beings the child has unalienable fundamental human rights, an
erosion of any of these rights constitutes child abuse. Of course, child abuse takes
various form; traces and incidences of child abuse abound. Newspapers,
Magazines, Journals and other media houses are replete with causes of child abuse.
The situation has escalated to such an extent that the United Nations Organization
has encouraged member nations to restore and respect the dignity of man.

A child is a person that has not attained the age of 18. For centuries, the Nigerian
child has been seen as “an instrument or property with no absolute privilege of its
own”. In the traditional African society the belief was that children should merely
be seen and not heard. Children were not allowed to listen to adults’
discussions/conversation let alone make contributions. This situation was prevalent
not only in the society but found its way into the educational system.
Consequently, teachers only allowed children to make contributions when they
deemed necessary. Recently, there has been serious concern about the child with
the realization that children play important part in the family and the society. It is
generally agreed that children are the future generation, the leaders of tomorrow
and the potential flag bearers of any nation. To carry out these duties, the child
therefore has certain rights that must be protected and not be trampled upon or
denied. In recognition of the socio-cultural and educational dimension of the child,
the United Nations, European Union, African Union, UNICEF and ANPPCAN
have all joined efforts in advocating for protection of the right and well-being of
children. Among other provisions, UNICEF and the National Policy on Children
grant children the following rights:

 Protection against indecent and in human treatment like abuse,

 Provision of a conducive environment to promote early stimulation to learning
for the child,
 Entitlement of every child (male/female) to receive compulsory basic
education and equal opportunity for higher education,
 Promotion and encouragement of child-friendly principles in all relevant
institutions(Frank, 2014)
The above provisions recognize the importance of education for the optimum
development of the child thus advocating for compulsory basic education and the
provision of conducive learning environment. Education is therefore recognized as
one avenue through which the child can develop properly. Many developing
nations place a high premium on the education of their citizen because education is
viewed as an instrument for cultural, social, political, economic and technological
development and emancipation.

In Nigeria, for instance, education is viewed as a means of building a free and

democratic, just and equalitarian society; a united strong and self-reliant nation; a
land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens (Federal Republic of Nigeria,
2004). Thus, Nigerians need a change and growth in education so as to be in line
with the developed nations. Every successive federal and state government
administration has been allocating substantial portions of its annual budget to meet
this broad objective. In some cases, regional and later state government had at one
time or the other embarked on free education at all levels including higher
institutions. Although these programmes have been brought to abrupt halt due to
series of political changes and the present adverse economic conditions,
nevertheless, many state governments still endeavour to give financial aids to their
students and educational institutions. State governments have come up with
various policies as regards admission, administration, duration of programmes and
so on.

Presently, education has been made compulsory for children at the basic level and
every child is encouraged to take the opportunity of acquiring at least basic
education up to the junior secondary level by some state governments. All these
are efforts made to protect the basic right of children.
In the traditional African society, the training of the child was the sole
responsibility of the parents and the members of the community who had the right
to discipline and correct the child whenever they went wrong. The parents trained
the child in a way that is suitable and acceptable to the standard of the society.
Following the advent of western education and the introduction of nursery and pre-
primary schools, parents tend to transfer the responsibility of guiding, directing,
counselling and role modeling of the children to the school. Thus, putting more
demands on the school to do what the parents should do in addition to their normal
school functions.

Meanwhile, child abuse can occur in the form of physical assault, neglect and
sexual abuse child abandonment, child battery, child neglect. By physical assault
we mean a situation whereby the child is subjected to brutal physical torture
resulting from violence perpetuated against the child. This results to battered skins.
Skills and fractured bones hands and legs. Child neglect occurs when there is a
disorder in the parent child relationship characterized by failure of parents to
endow the child with parental value. Nevertheless, the original African Culture and
in particular the Nigeria Society places much premium on the child who is often
regarded as a precious gift from the divine creator. Hence any act of child abuse is
condemned and perceived as unethical and immoral. Child abuse in the pre-
colonial Society of Nigeria was a very condemnable act. Child was perceived as
the “Child of all”, hence the Igbo name “Nwaorah”. However, following the
infiltration and incursion of civilization and Whiteman’s culture, the culture the
Africans and indeed Nigerian was altered and tainted with western culture and
civilization (Igwe,2014).

Parents now push over the responsibility of caring for their children to the school.
Many young children who would have been at home at about two years have been
pushed over to the school. The tasks thus become enormous for the teachers and
the school management to carry leading to many children being neglected,
despised and abused on a daily basis. This clearly undermines the provision for the
right of the child on ‘protection against indecent and inhuman treatment like abuse
and neglect’ earlier stated. Rather, the child has been subjected to all kinds of
maltreatment, is not protected, valued nor defended. Most times, the treatment
meted out to young children as corrective measures constitutes one form of abuse
or the other (Kareem, 2012).

It is evident that child abuse is a serious global problem that is deeply rooted in
cultural, economic and social practices and occurs in a variety of ways and places.
According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDA,
2006) reported by Gelles (2009) in the United States for instance, more than
900,000 Child Abuse and its Implications for the Educational Sector in Nigeria,
109 children suffer severe or life threatening injury and some (1,000 to 2,000)
children die as a result of abuse and those who survive often suffer emotional
trauma that may take long for the bruises to be healed. In the same vein, our
Nigerian society is still plagued with incidences of child labour, child
maltreatment, child marriage, child trafficking, neglect, and child prostitution. The
effect of such abuses are many and varied including teenage pregnancies/mothers,
youth restiveness and violence, cultism, youth decadence, joblessness, armed
bandits, molestations, and school dropouts. These menaces have eaten into the life
of most Nigerian children.

These abuses according to Frank take place not only at home and undertaken by
persons known to and trusted by the child, but also in the school where the child
spends a greater part of his/her early life.
The school system was not an exception to this scenario. Teachers only permit
children or students to make contributions when they deemed it necessary in the
classroom. In 1959, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared the child
Rights Act which was adopted by all member states (Kareem, 2012). Expectedly,
the Child Right Act addresses the rights of children and youths under 18years of
age and covers every other right of the children from health care to education, from
exploitation and right to their own opinion. In the same vein, the International
Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that (80) million children aged 18 and below
are engaged as labourers across the world and another two (2) million is involved
in prostitution. The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) as a way out of
this menace, adopted the convention on the rights of the child in 1989 and over 178
countries including Nigeria, have since expressed satisfaction by ratifying it. Child
abuse according to Khartri, (2004) is the employment, use of persuasion,
inducement, enticement, or coercion of a child to engage in or assist any other
person to engage in any sexual explicit conduct or the simulation of such conduct
for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct. Meek, Heit and
Page (2008), defined child abuse as maltreatment of a person under the age of
eighteen. It can also be defined as intentional treatment of children by adults in a
cruel or violent way involving maltreatment of children, sexual harassment, denial
of education, child labour, intimidation and molestation, physical assault, neglect
and child trafficking among others. African Network for Prevention and Protection
Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) in Umobong (2010), defines child
abuse as “the intentional, unintentional or well intentional acts which endanger the
physical health, emotional and the educational welfare of children”. Child abuse
means different things to different people. Umobong in Wahab and Olubunmi
(2015) believed that child abuse can be seen as any act of omission or commission,
physical or psychological mistreatment or neglect of a child by parents, guardians,
caregivers or other adults that may endanger the child’s physical ,
psychological or emotional health and development. In this definition,
wrongfully, maltreating a child or selfishly making an unfair use of a child’s
services by adults who are responsible for the child constitutes child abuse. Thus,
the adult may not be directly related to the child but a person in whose care the
child is left can be an abuser. This may include the educators, healthcare workers,
daycare workers or other responsible adults (Child Welfare Information Gateway,
2008).

As a matter of fact, it is generally agreed that children are the future generation, the
leaders of tomorrow and the state representatives of the larger society. To blend
into the macro society and effectively perform these duties, the rights of the youths
cannot be over emphasized thus, denied. In recognition of the above socio-cultural
and educational dimension of the child, the United Nations, European Union,
African Union and UNICEF, have all joined efforts in advocating for protection of
the right and well-being of children.

In this present day, children in Ohaukwu L.G.A of Ebonyi state are abused,
abandoned, discarded without any fault of theirs. The world around them is most
devoid of every trace of love and robs them of all the accessories of good living,
which their privileged counterparts often take for granted. The resultant
implication on abused children are depression from shame, poor sleep patterns of
health problem, psychosocial dysfunctions, low self-esteem, food insecurity,
parental depression, severe brain damage, extremely violent behavior, attention
disorder, poor peer relations (Kurtz, Gaudin, Wodarski, Howing, 2009).

The importance of this study cannot be over emphasized as the impact of child
abuse is far greater than its immediate visible effects. The abused children
experiences can shape their development negatively with serious consequences of
adult life. These negative consequences will affect not just the child and the family
but the society as a whole. Children are not only the most vulnerable class of
people but the most important as they represent the future of the families, society,
community in particular and the world in general Judging from the categories and
implication of child abuse, this research work focuses attentions on the extent to
which the above indices of child abuse affects the academic performance of the
school child in Ohaukwu local government of Ebonyi State as regards their reading
habits, subject mastery, classroom participation, pass grades in examination and
submission of assignment regularly. Therefore, the educational implication of child
abuse on the students’ academic performance in Ohaukwu L.G.A of Ebonyi State
is the main target of this study.

Statement of Problem

The increasing number of students and those out of school hawking and selling
goods around the streets and school premises in all rural areas in Ohaukwu local
government area is alarming. Some of the children look so malnourished and sick,
others in pain of being hurt by beatings and assaulted by gangsters. Some of these
children are sent out there by their parents or caregivers, the interest of most
parents is what the child can bring to the home through sells (hawking goods) or
giving oneself for money; many leave school as early as primary school, age 12 to
engage in prostitution while others are used as house helps and other menial jobs to
bring in money to the family. As a result the moral and social development of the
child has no education base, their performance in school is affected. The child is
therefore a tool for profit making. It is against this background that the study is
carried out to investigate the influence of child abuse among secondary school
students in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
Purpose of the study

Generally, the purpose of this study is to examine the influence of child abuse
among secondary school students in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi
State from which the following specific purposes were derived.

(1) To ascertain the influence of child abuse on the education of male or female
student
(2) To find out the influence of child abuse on students’ reading habits
(3) To ascertain the influence of child abuse on students’ participation in the
classroom
(4) To find out how child abuse contributes to students learning problem

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will be of much benefit to the school Administrators,
Teachers, parents, students and government.

The result of the study will be of great help to the school administrators in playing
their roles of safeguarding students to avoid all forms of abuse in school coming
from their teachers or caregivers.

This study would certainly benefit the teachers in knowing the need for guiding
students in a better way instead of abusing them in and outside the classroom.
Hence, it will really help the teachers to be student centered in all they do.

The findings could serve as a guide to researchers in education because it will act
as a guide in developing other materials that relate to abuse of school children.
Hence, it will act as their reference point when writing their own materials that
pattern child abuse in the school.

The result of the study will equally benefit the students because they will know
their rights and when/how to make necessary complain when their rights are
obviously abused.

The findings of the study would serve as eye-opener to government because it help
them to play its role in safeguarding the school age children from abuse by
establishing body or agency that will check the excesses of these culprits in the
school.

Scope of Study

The study is designed to identify the influence of child abuse among secondary
school students in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. The study
specifically covers the influence of child abuse on the education of male and
female students, influence of child abuse on students’ reading habit forms of child
abuse and the relatedness of child abuse to learning problems among students in
secondary schools in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

Research Questions

This study was guided by the following research questions;

(1) What are the influences of child abuse on the education of male and female
students in Ohaukwu Local Government Area?
(2) How does child abuse influence students’ reading habits in Ohaukwu Local
Government Area?
(3) How does child abuse affect students’ participation in the classroom?
(4) How does child abuse contributes to students learning problem in Ohaukwu
Local Government Area?