Influence of Home-School Distance on Students’ Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Cross River State, Nigeria

Ondah Jacob EJALE; Musa Muhammad IBRAHIM Ph.D; Rukaiya Saad AHMED Ph.D

doi:10.56201/ijssmr.vol.11no12.2025.pg366.374

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Influence of Home-School Distance on Students’ Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Cross River State, Nigeria

Ondah Jacob EJALE, Musa Muhammad IBRAHIM Ph.D, Rukaiya Saad AHMED Ph.D

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of home–school distance on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Cross River State, Nigeria. It was guided by a single objective, which examined the effect of the number of kilometers students travel on their academic performance. The research question and null hypothesis were formulated in line with this objective. The study population comprised 87,071 principals, teachers, and students in public secondary schools across Cross River State, including 355 principals, 4,988 teachers, and 81,728 students distributed within the 18 local government areas of the state. A sample of 382 respondents was randomly selected to represent the population, out of which 375 completed questionnaires were successfully retrieved. A descriptive survey research design was adopted, and data were collected using a questionnaire as the sole instrument. Data analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Frequencies and simple percentages were used to analyze demographic variables, mean scores addressed the research questions, and analysis of variance was applied to test the hypothesis. The results showed that the distance student’s travel to school has significantly diminished their academic performance in public secondary schools in the state. The study concluded that long home–school distances significantly affect students’ academic performance, as students who travel long distances are more prone to lateness, fatigue, and irregular attendance, which ultimately limits their participation in classroom and extracurricular activities. Consequently, the study recommends that the government and education authorities should prioritize the establishment of additional public secondary schools in underserved and remote communities to reduce the distance students travel daily. Education stakeholders should introduce reliable and subsidized school transportation schemes, such as school buses or comm

Keywords

Home-School DistanceStudents’ Academic PerformancePublic Secondary SchoolsCross River State

References

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Influence of Home-School Distance on Students’ Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

Keywords

References

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