Assessing the Factors Affecting Senior Secondary School Students’ Academic Achievement in Selected Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Subjects in North-East, Nigeria

Abstract

Workforce related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has become increasingly important. STEM subjects form the basis of many career opportunities in science, technology, and management-related disciplines. Some of these jobs might be obvious, like research scientist, doctor, engineer, accountant, software developer, etc. States in the north-east region of Nigeria has been classified as educationally less developed states (ELDS), An overview of data on educational performances and admission spaces in federal tertiary institutions in Nigeria, shows that the six states in the north-east geopolitical region have consistently produced fewer number of candidates’ study STEM related carrier in higher institutions of learning in Nigeria compared to number of spaces available to them by design. This study, therefore, identified the risk factors that affect the senior secondary students’ academic achievement in selected science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects in the north-east geopolitical region in Nigeria. Data were collected from stakeholders in the six states of the north-east region using Saaty's nine-point scale structured questionnaire with the assistance of properly trained Interviewers. A multi-criteria decision-making method, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used. Using excels solver version 2.4, the risk factors were assessed and prioritized in the following order: School Base Factor (SB) considered to be 1st priority, Parental Factor (PF) 2nd priority, Teaching Facilities (TF) 3rd priority, Student Learning Skill (SL) 4th priority, Adequate & Qualified Teacher (AQ) 5th priority, Motivation (MF) 6th priority, Awareness (AW) 7th priority and Peer Group Factor (PG) 8th priority. It is recommended that the three most important factors, namely: school-based factor, parental factor, and teaching facilities, should be given due attention for students in the north-east to succeed in STEM-related subjects and disciplines.