Causes and Levels of Truancy Among Secondary School Students: A Case Study of Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was a case study design aimed at determining the causes and levels of truancy among secondary school students, using Rivers State, Nigeria. The research sample consisted of 105 teachers and was purposefully sampled. Four research questions and one hypothesis were posed, formulated and tested respectively. A structured questionnaire was developed, validated and administered to the respondents selected for the study. T-test, standard deviation and mean were used to analyze the data collected. The results indicated that there is a significant difference between family background and student factor. The implication of this is that the student’s family background contributes greatly to the student’s level of truancy. Hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made towards the reducing the level of truancy among secondary school students. Key words: Nigeria, Rivers State, school, secondary school, students, truancy.