A CORRELATIONAL STUDY OF STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN EXTERNAL EXAMINATIONS IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper examines the correlation between Christian Religious Studies students’ performance in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) in Ekiti State, Nigeria. A total number of 4,974 student result constituted the sample of the study. The purposive and stratified sampling techniques were employed at different stages to select 3,706 male candidate results and 1,268 female candidate results. The instrument used for the data collection was a proforma to collect data in CRS from the sampled schools. The instrument contained columns for gender of the students as well as their grades in the WAEC and NECO SSCEs results. The results covered five (5) years, from 2015 to 2019. The researcher personally visited the sampled schools and seek permission from the Principals with the assistance of the subject teachers to help in collection of desired results from 2015/2016 to 2018/2019 academic sessions. The data collected were analysed using the percentage to describe gender distribution of the students in WAEC and NECO SSCEs. Research Questions 1 and 2 were answered using the percentage, while Research Question 3 that has corresponding Hypothesis 1 was tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) at 0.05 level of significance. The study findings revealed that CRS students 1,863 (58.80%) had passed grade in the WAEC that is (A1 – C6) from 2015 – 2019 academic session, and the CRS students 1,138 (63.00%) had passed grade in the NECO that is (A1 – C6) from 2015 – 2019 academic session, among others. Also, the findings showed that there was a positive significant correlation between CRS students’ academic performance in the WASSCE and NECO SSCEs from 2015 – 2019. It was therefore recommended that government should employ qualified and competent teachers to teach Christian Religious Studies since both examinations are conducted for the same levels of educational levels so that the students would be able to score at least a credit pass (C4 – C6) in both external examinations (WAEC & NECO) among others.