International Journal of Science and Technology Education Research Vol. 2(4), pp.

58 - 61, April 2011

Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/IJSTER
ISSN 2141-6559 ©2011 Academic Journals

Review

Lateness: A major problem confronting school

administrators in Delta State, Nigeria
E. D. Nakpodia1 and F. K. Dafiaghor2*
1
Department of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, Faculty of Education, Delta State University,
Abraka, Nigeria.
2
Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Education, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria.
Accepted 4 April, 2011

This paper is a review on lateness in public schools, which has posed a major problem to school
administrators in Delta State, Nigeria; especially at the primary and secondary school levels. The author
delimited his focus on students, staff and supporting staff in the school system. The salient point is
that, lateness to schools plagues school administrators, bringing about inefficiencies at work by way of
administration. Therefore, this paper highlights the meaning, causes and effects of lateness to schools
as related to the school administrator in Delta State, Nigeria. The study also highlighted various
remedies to the sordid situation. This review will therefore help school administrators alleviate
lateness, a hydra-headed monster plaguing schools in Delta State, Nigeria, and as such bring about
easy administration of schools in the region.

Key words: Lateness, school administrators, discipline, environment, punctuality.

INTRODUCTION

Amongst other components of any organisation, human clearly that:

beings are the most difficult to manage. Folks pose the
most problems to administrators anywhere in the world, ‘As a Human Resource professional, I have dealt with a
not excluding school organisations as learning factories plethora of employee issues: sleeping on the job, theft,
in Delta State, Nigeria. Many authors have posited as a sexual harassment… but I have found over the years,
matter of fact that, it is easier to manage the financial and that there is one issue that plagues managers more than
material components of any organisation than to manage all these other issues combined… attendance and
the human component. They insinuate that “it is easier to punctuality. That is, people not showing up at all…
manage even animals than to manage human beings” people not showing up on time.’
(Nakpodia, 2006; Peretomode, 1991; Peretomode, 2001;
Ubogu, 2004; Emore, 2005; Ukoshi, 2004). Thus, in the It could thus be deduced from the excerpt that in the
school system, the school head, which is usually the school system, which is the focus of this paper, both
headmaster/headmistress or the principal, is confronted staff’s and students’/pupils’ lateness to school pose the
with numerous problems posed by staff and/or students. greatest problems to school administrators in Delta State.
These problems include: sleeping on duty, negative What then is lateness?
attitude to tasks, lack of motivation to tasks, sexual
harassment, theft, quarrelling, malice, jealousy, envy,
absenteeism, lateness, etc. But Lauby (2009) stated DEFINITION OF LATENESS

Literally, the term “lateness” implies a situation where an

individual arrives after the proper, scheduled or usual
th
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: time (Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, 5 ed.,
+2347033941918. 1995). Furthermore, Lauby (2009) puts it as a term used
 Nakpodia and Dafiaghor 59

to describe “people not showing up on time”. Breeze et he is more likely to be punctual because the level of
al. (2010) contributed by saying that, lateness is distraction would be lesser.
synonymous with “tardiness”, which implies being slow to
act or slow to respond, thus not meeting up with proper or
usual timing. It is obvious therefore that, lateness could Keeping friends of different status
be seen as a system of network breakdown
(Peretomode, 1991), a situation of not meeting up with Friends and acquaintances that are not of the same
programme… a function of time… time is the criteria and status with an individual tend not to understand the
determinant of lateness. Having therefore known the responsibilities of the individual, most especially those of
meaning of lateness, the causes of lateness should be lower status. For instance, a teacher spending most of
highlighted. the leisure time with a motorcyclist; the motorcyclist is
likely not to motivate the teacher in the aspect of
punctuality as compared with a fellow teacher.
CAUSES OF LATENESS

There are numerous causes of lateness to school. Engagement in untimely domestic chores/activities
Amongst others, the following are the major causes of
lateness to school. These activities are necessary but doing them at a wrong
timing is what cause lateness to school. In some cases,
most parents even oblige their wards to help carry their
Going late to bed goods to the market and other such kind of chores before
going to school. Activities like these inevitably cause
This is one of the major causes of lateness to school. lateness to school, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
Going late to bed could result in waking up late, as could Furthermore, Oghuvwu (2008) concurred to this when he
be deduced from the literal meaning of the saying “early opined that “lateness is common as a result of students’
to bed early to rise”. involvement by parents”.

Watching films and late-night movies Innate anxiety level

The individual involved in watching films and home Most people always have that relax mind in anything they
videos may be so captivated and hypnotised by it that, do; they do not even care if they are running late or not;
he/she forgets that he/she has to be in school; and at they just do not beat that their relax temple or mood of
sudden realisation, he/she hurries off and likely may not doing things. Even when a little hurry could make them
be punctual (Ukoshi, 2004). punctual, they prefer to be late than beat their innate
temple; this is a glaring situation.

The habit of waking up late

Family background
Some folks find more pleasure in early morning sleep
than the overnight sleep. These kind of people always In some cases, the habit of lateness is being copied from
wake up late to hurry off to school but most times, family members. For instance, the child that sees the
situation may not really be in their favour, thus they are father always going late to work could also either
irresistibly late to school. voluntarily or involuntarily learn the habit, thus go to
school late also. This is supported by Peretomode (2001)
and Egbule (2004), when they elaborated the concept of
Distance/Location of school NATURE-NURTURE as it affects an individual’s habits.

The further the location of the school from the

student/pupil or staff, the more distractions, obstacles, Cultural background
friends to say high to, hold-ups to beat, go-slows, etc are
there that tend to hinder his/her punctuality to school. For We live in a society where the culture does not frown at,
instance, consider a situation where an individual working or rather say anything about punctuality as ethics in a
in DELSU Secondary School, Abraka, leaves Eku or Igun work environment, thus to most individuals, punctuality is
every day for work. This individual is likely not to be not really a serious matter, compared with how
punctual when compared with some one of the same punctuality is being perceived in Western cultures and
status living in Abraka, possibly even close to the school; developed countries (Breeze et al., 2010).
60 Int. J. Sci. Technol. Educ. Res

Religious background on… both teachers and students turn to look at him/her…
the system and flow is distracted and distorted… he/she
Every individual in this world is loyal or faithful to one thinks where do I start from to catch up?.. asks a fellow
religion or the other. Even the atheist is loyal to his own student “is he just starting?.. how long has be been
beliefs, thus he/she is his/her own religion. Individuals teaching?.. what has he/she taught?... let me see your
tend to swallow hook, line and sinker, whatever their note. From this simple analogy, it is glaring that the late
religious leaders teach, and those which the religious comer is both a problem him/herself and the entire school
teacher does not teach is considered less or not system. In addition, according to “Clackmannashire
important by them. The salient point is that, if religions Council Online”, “lateness is disruptive to the individual
frown at lateness, it would reduce; and if they do not and to the work of the class and may be an early warning
speak of it or speak encouraging it (they may say, no of other difficulties”.
matter what happens, God will always favour you); the
tendency is that lateness would be on the increase, most
especially in Delta State, Nigeria, Africa, where religion is Lateness inhibits the process of achieving the goals
tenaciously adhered to because of the fear of witchcraft of the school
and wizardry (African Science).
The basic reason for the human component is to enable
easy achievement of the goals and objectives of
Lack of functional and effective punctuality policy establishing the school. Thus, if the employers’ goal is to
make money, and the individual’s contribution to the
Obviously, individuals could come late to school, if they organisation could bring the school N20 per h. If he/she
perceive that there are no consequences to it. It is a then comes 30 min late every day, thus N10 is lost every
consensus that “if black man no see strong thing, e no day as a result of lateness. The point is that as small as
they hear”. This consensus is more pronounced in Delta this, multiplied by the days of the years and a good
State, Nigeria, where the probability of misdemeanour number of employees with this habit… this would be a
and stubbornness is high. Furthermore, school head’s very great loss to the school. Thus, Ali (2007) clearly
fairness or equal treatment between different subjects, as posited that
perceived by individuals, could cause lateness.
Individuals are likely to be more punctual, if they perceive “… showing up 10 min late could add up to lots of lost
obvious “rule of law” in terms of punctuality revenue for the company (school) and the individual.”
(Clackmannanshire Council Online, 2010). Furthermore, ETC’s (2009) attendance and punctuality
policy clearly states that “regular and punctual
attendance is of paramount importance in ensuring that
Too much body care and excessive facial/body make- all students have full access to the curriculum… valuable
up learning time is lost when students are absent or late”.

In some cases, individuals are obsessed by their

appearance to the detriment of timely engagements in Lateness leads to absenteeism and general failure in
school. Oghuvwu (2008) agreed to this when he opined life
that “lateness is common among females more than
males”. This could be as a result of the fact that, females Pupils/students and/or staff could sometimes feel the
require more time for their body and facial care and make extent of their lateness and very often they just decide to
up. be absent. This has a very great effect on the individual’s
academic and other achievements. According to Ali
(2007), this could lead to loss of confidence and
EFFECTS OF LATENESS TO SCHOOL engagement in premature sexual activity for students,
leading to pregnancy, resulting in a phenomenon called
There are various effects of lateness to school. Many storm and stress among adolescents. Also, Catt F found
writers have pinpointed many of these effects. Amongst out that “it is always the same group of people showing
others, some are outlined and briefly discussed as up early and the same group of people showing up late”.
follows.
REMEDIES TO LATENESS
Lateness disorganises and causes distraction to the
individual and the whole system 1. Schools should operate strict functional punctuality
policy. One of the major responsibilities of the school
The individual that came late to school is both a problem head is to implement policies and/or even possibly make
to him/herself, fellow students, teacher, and others in the some… as whatever happens in the system would be
school system… he/she walks in when teaching is going credited or blamed upon him. Thus, the school head
 Nakpodia and Dafiaghor 61

needs to carry out the function of maintaining punctuality help identify and proffer solutions to this quality and
policy without favouritism. disturbing problem that could lead to students’ drop-out
2. Staff and students in the school system should be from school, and also inefficiency and ineffectiveness on
sensitised and made aware of the effects of lateness to the part of the school administrators, by way of school
them and the entire school system, and also the benefits administration and management; knowing fully well that
of punctuality to them first and then to the entire school lateness could be reduced by providing free education
system. This should be carried out by both school heads, counselling and discipline among students, in addition to
governmental and non-governmental agencies, religious the use of electronic systems, truancy sweep by school
bodies, and other such bodies and individuals. heads. It should also be noted that, lateness is common
3. The school administrator must teach punctuality by among female students, and as such they should be of
example… he/she must act as a model for all to copy. more concern to the school administrator in Delta State.
4. School administrators should impose compulsory Finally, the remedy to any situation is in the situation;
beginning and closing of the day meeting of staff and thus, the school administrator, should study the peculiar
students. In the meetings, there should be strict situation and respond as the situation suggests. The fact
attendance register. is no two situations are the same, no matter how similar.
5. School administrators should build in staff and
students, the virtue of “time-consciousness”. For
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