CHAPTER ONE

Introduction
This section is the overview of
the study. It deals with the
background of the study,
statement of the problem, the
purpose of the study, the
research question, significance
of the study, limitations,
delimitation and the organization
of the study.
Background of the
study
According to United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization-UNESCO
International Standard
Classification of Education cited
in A.K Thompson (1981)
Education and Development in
Africa, education is defined as
comprising an organized and
sustained communication
designed to bring about learning.
Communication in this sense
implies the required relationship
between two or more people
involving the
transfer of information,
'organized' means planned in a
sequence with established aims
and curricula and 'sustained'
means the learning experience
has duration and continuity.
Learning is taken to mean any
change in behavior, knowledge,
understanding, skills or
capabilities which cannot be
ascribe simply to the physical or
development of inherited
behavior patterns.
According to a sociologist, cited
in J.N.K Fianu (20002),
education is a process by which
the culture of the society is
passed on to the younger
generation in order to ensure its
survival. It does not only concern
itself with the maintenance and
transmission of existing culture
but also serves as a means of
social change.
In other perspective, modern
politicians and economists see
education as the development of
human resources which
ultimately leads to transformation
of the society. They contended
that an educated individual is
more productive than the
uneducated in the society.
Education as a discipline has
aims and functions which are
geared towards the development
of the individuals head, heart and
hand. The aims of education can
simply be interpreted as the
importance of education to the
child or individual who attends
school or receives education; to
the family or parents who
sponsors and provides the
necessary basic needs for the
child and to the community or the
state which provides the school
and spends large sums of money
to run and maintain it. A good
education should therefore
satisfy the needs of the the
individual, family and the society.
In the first place, education is
aimed at equipping people with
practical skills that
will enable them to cope with the
economy.
Education should produce
people with self confidence who
will become leaders with a sense
of responsibility to cope up with
the condition peculiar to
developing the society.
A developing country needs
new ideas yo be able to develop
so the educational system must
produce people who will have
creative imagination in order to
develop new ideas in arts,
government and industries.
Education should produce
people of sound character who
will be honesty, courageous,
responsible and industrious in
order to face the challenges of
the country.
It is with regards to the above
aims and functions of education
that there have been several
effort by the past and present
government, educational
authorities, non-
governmental organizations
(NGO's) and individual
philanthropists to make
education affordable to all
sundry. For instance; during the
colonial, the European
missionaries on their arrival saw
it necessary to open school in
the castles to educate their
mulatto children the had with
Ghanaian wives and girlfriends.
Though there had been several
reforms and ordinances such as
Governor Rodge and the 1908
reforms, the reforms of Governor
Guggisberg (1919-1927), the
educational ordinance of 1852-
1882 and 1887 all aimed at
education in the country.
 Another effort the government
before Independence in 1957
was the Accelerated
Development Plan (ADP) of
1951. Under this plan, education
was seen as the cornerstone to
peoples' happiness tuition and
also the key to unlock the door to
modernization. This plan
provided
tuition free to elementary
schools, some primary and
middle schools. It also introduced
teachers certificate 'A' and 'B' to
train more teachers and
expanded educational facilities.
After Independence in1957,
numerous efforts were made and
are still being made by the
government and educational
authorities to make education
accessible. Laudable examples
are the Free Compulsory
Universal Basic Education
(FCUBE), the capitation grant
and the free school feeding
programme across the country.
There had also been
renumeration and other
motivational packages for
teachers such as Best Teachers
Award to encourage them to do
well.
Despite all the efforts by the
government and stakeholders in
education, the truancy level in
Mawuli E.P. Primary School is
rampant. This has badly affected
their academic performance over
the years.
Ho is the capital city of the Ho
Municipal District and the Volta
Region of Ghana. The population
of Ho Municipality according to
the 2010 Population and Housing
Census is 177,281 representing
8.4 percent of the region's total
population. Females constitute
52.7 percent and males
represent 47.3 percent. About 62
percent of the population resides
in urban localities. Some of these
inhabitants are illeterates and
therefore attach little importance
to education. As a result, these
people mostly do not support
their children's education.
Statement of the
problem
It has been observed by the
researcher that some learners of
Mawuli E.P. Primary School are
not regular at school and those
who does desert the classroom
before
school closes. These attitude of
the learners had and still having
serious effect on their academic
performance. The researcher
seeks to find the causes, effects
and suggest solutions to the
problem.
Purpose of the
study
The main purpose of the study is
to clarify the reasons why Mawuli
E.P. Primary School learners
play truant and then design
motivational strategies that will
keep learners at school and also
identify the teaching techniques
that will help retain learners in
school.
Research Questions
1. What is the rate at
which Mawuli E.P Primary
learners stay away from school?
2. Do teachers use the
appropriate TLM’s in lesson
delivery?
3. Does single parenting affect
the rate at which pupils stay
away from school?
4. Does laziness of
pupils account for dodging
school?
5. Does the distance of the
school from the homes of the
pupils affect their attendance?
6. Is it too much of punishment at
school that keep pupils away
from school?
Significance of the Study
The ministry of education and the
Ghana education service in
agreement with the government
of Ghana have made several
attempts to inspire pupils to
attend school regularly, but it
seems not to work. It is the hope
of the researcher that, the results
of this study will,
1. Help the ministry of education
and the Ghana education service
to come out with another avenue
of making pupils attend school
regularly.
2. Bring to the notice of non –
governmental organizations to
assist brilliant but needy pupils in
the school.
3. Bring to the notice of human
right activities and organizations
such as WAJU, CHRAJ who
would come into contact with the
study to protect the right of pupils
access to education and remind
parent of their responsibilities.
4. Help in educating members in
the community on the importance
of educating their wards.
5. Enable educational authorities
and curriculum planners to know
the various situations in the rural
areas and draw the curriculum to
suit them.
Limitations
1.The entire population of Mawuli
E.P. Primary is too large as such
it will tedious for the researcher
to effectively carryout the finding
therefore she limited the
population to basic 3C.
2.The problem posed by lack of
financial support and the fact that
the researcher has to combine
academic work with the research
work put a lot of strains and
stresses on the researcher.
3.Time factor was another
problem which limited the
researcher. The researcher is a
practicing teacher. She had to
prepare lesson notes for her
daily teaching. Duration for the
trainee to investigate into
identified problem was
inadequate.
4.Unwillingness of the children
under study to give out relevant
information on why they always
come to school late or skip
school was another hindrance.
Delimitation
The research is based on the
effect of truancy on the academic
performance of Mawuli E.P.
Primary School learners in Ho.
The researcher went ti the school
to collect data readily from the
teachers,
learners and parents. The
researcher used one class since
its an action research and wants
to help solve the problem
immediately.
Organization of
the Study
Under the organization of the
study, the researcher
presents the order of this
research work.
The chapter one deals with,
introduction to the study which
form the background to the
study, statements of the study
purpose of the study, significance
of the study, research questions
to be addressed. Delimitation
and limitation of the study.
Chapter two talks about review of
related literature on the proposed
area of the study.
Chapter three deals with the
methodology including the
population and sampling
procedure, the instruments used
in collecting the data research
design.
It also provides data collection
processes and discusses data
analysis procedures used in the
study.
Chapter four presents and
discusses the analysis of the
data and summary of major
findings.
The chapter five deals with
conclusion and recommendation
for future study.