ABSTRACT

Drug abuse is defined as the misuse of drugs. This behavior has long been surmised to explain how students have been academically affected. The study was guided by the objectives; To critically examine if drugs when abused retard academic performance.; To examine if students perform better when under the influence of drugs?; And To raise awareness in the school of local strategies, resources and policies that can be utilized to address drug abuse. It has recently been observed that a significant number of students become dependable on drugs. A study of the impact of drug abuse on academic performance initiated in the hope of understanding the exposure of students to drugs and how they perform. The study design was quantitative using the survey trend design. It involved the use of questionnaires and one to one interviews. Quantitative results showed that academic pursuit of those students who engage in drug misuse is duly jeopardized, and that the abusers do not perform, contrary to seemingly popular expectation. The theoretical analysis is, tackling the issues surrounding drugs will need an integrated approach, bringing together the strategies of several local agencies. Drug education should form part of continuous education throughout the schooling years of secondary school students. Local service providers should ensure information provision is also part of the service provision.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION

SUPERVISOR’S APPROVAL

DEDICATION iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY~

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM~ 2

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY~ 2

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 2

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY~ 3

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY~ 3

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 5

2.1 INTRODUCTIONS 5

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 12

3,1 STUDY DESIGN’ 12

3.2 RESEARCH POPULATION’ 12

3.3 SAMPLE SIZE’ 12

3.5 INSTRUMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION’ 13

3.6 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES’ 13

3.7 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE’ 13

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 14

4.1 Introduction 14

VI I

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 22

5.1 Discussion of the findings on student behavior towards academic

performance in reJation to drug abuse.

5.2 Discussion on the ~eveI of academic performance when under and not the

influence of drugs.

5.3 Discussions on the intervention strategies for drug addicts in the schoeJs.

5,4 Condusion

5.5 SUMMARY

5.6 RECOMMENDATIONS

5.7 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

BIBLIOGRAPGHY 29

APPENDICES 31

Appendix 1A Questionnaire for both ADMINISTRATORS AND TEACHERS 31

Appendix lB Questionnaire for STUDENTS 32