Influence of School Plant on Secondary School Students‟ Academic Performance in Economics in Ile-OlujiOkeigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria

The study investigated the influence of school plant on students’ academic performance in Economics in secondary schools in Ile-Oluji Okeigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State. Ex-post facto research design was adopted in the study. One thousand, three hundred and forty two (1342) students offering Economics, representing 29.0% of the 4632 Senior Secondary School (SSS) students were drawn as sample. A checklist titled School Plant Availability Checklist (SPLAC) with a Cronbach alpha (α) of 0.73 was used in the study. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that educational equipment, buildings and playgrounds have individual significant influence on students’ academic performance in Economics (Fcal=140.776; 342.606; 24.932, p<0.01) respectively. Interaction effect among components of the school plant (educational equipment, buildings and playgrounds) contributed most to students’ academic performance (Fcal = 82.941; p<0.01). This is followed by the interaction between building and playgrounds (Fcal=45.792; p<0.01), educational equipment and buildings (Fcal =13.767; p<0.01) and educational equipment and playgrounds (Fcal = 6.245; p<0.01). The R-squared coefficient (.892) showed that the components jointly predict 89.2% of any significant variation in students’ academic performance in Economics. It was recommended that the state government should adequately inform and sensitize principals on the importance of school plant in school goal achievement.

Keywords – School Plant, Academic Performance, Educational Equipment, Buildings, Playgrounds