CHILD ABUSE ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUPIL IN OBUDU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA

The study examines the influence of child abuse on the academic performance of pupils in Obudu Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. The research design adopted for this study is ex-post-facto research design. The population of the study consisted of 10 public primary schools. Only primary 6 pupils in 10 public primary schools selected were used in Obudu Local Government Area of Cross River State. The population is made up of 982 pupils according to the enrolment record as provided by the State Universal Basic Education 2023 academic session. The researcher employed the simple random sampling techniques in determining the sample size for this research. The sample of this study was made up of 284 primary six (6) pupils in public primary school of both-, males and females using stratified and simple random selection from five (5) public primary schools. This comprised 138 males representing (48.59%) and 149 females representing (51.41%). A well validated instrument titled: Child abuse and students academic performance (CASAP). Content validity was established for the instrument of the study. In order to determine the reliability of the instrument, the instrument was administered to a sample of 20 pupils from two (2) primary schools in the study area, but that was not part of those earmarked for the actual sampling exercise. The reliability was determined using the test-retest method for across time stability and Cronbach alpha for internal consistency and the index ranges from .87 to .91. The means and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the Pearson's product moment correlation was adopted to test the stated null hypotheses of the study. It was found that physical child abuse, House-help servitude, Emotional abuse and Sexual abuse has a significant relationship with pupil's academic performance. It was recommended among others that he family and society in general should be more security conscious on the whereabouts of the child. Be interested in their welfare, dialogue issues or conflict, giving room for peace and harmony to reign at home, school and society.