PUNISHMENT REGIME AND BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION AMONG DELINQUENT STUDENTS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KANO MUNICIPAL, NIGERIA
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Date
2018-03-03
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Bayero University Kano
Abstract
The high rate of student’s delinquency often receives great attention from the news media. There
is alarming increase in the cases of substance abuse, sexual immorality, vandalism and truancy
by students in Nigeria and Kano State in particular. In view of the above, this study was
conducted to examine the use of punishment regime towards behaviour modification among
delinquent students of senior secondary schools in Kano Municipal Local Government Area of
Kano State, Nigeria. Survey design was used in the study, the population consists of the entire
senior secondary school teachers in the Kano Municipal L.G.A. with the total of one thousand,
one hundred and seven (1107) in the entire twenty two (22) senior secondary schools of the local
government, out of which two hundred and ninety one (291) teachers were randomly selected as
samples. An instrument named Punishment and Behaviour Modification Questionnaire was used
to collect data for the study. Reliability of internal consistency was established using cronbach
alpha, a positive reliability value of 0.76 was found, frequency count and percentage was used
for data analysis while Chi-square was used to test the hypotheses. The study found common
delinquent behavior to be substance abuse, poor home training as the major factor responsible
for students delinquency, verbal assault was the common punishment regime used by teachers on
delinquent students while corporal punishment is the most effective form of punishment regime to
use towards behaviour modification. The study found a significant gender difference in the
involvement of delinquent behaviors between male and female students of the study area and
also found a significant gender difference between male and female teachers towards the use of
punishment regime in handling delinquent behaviors which shows that male teachers use
punishment regime most often than their female counterparts. Based on the findings of the study,
the following recommendations were made; School authorities should intensify effort to curb
substance abuse among delinquents students through the effective use of corporal punishment,
teachers should avoid the use of verbal assault as a means of behaviour modification among
delinquent students, corporal punishment should be introduce in schools where it is no longer
being practiced, there is need to include the right use of corporal punishment in teachers
workshops and seminars periodically and also parents should stand up to their responsibilities
of training their children through close monitoring as well as ethical and moral re-orientations.