Consequences of domestic violence on school

Domestic violence is assuming national and international attention (Amnesty International 1995 as cited in Ernest, 2014). It is a type of violence that is prevalent in many homes, and the World over. According to Ernest (2014) domestic violence is a form of violence that occurs in the form of defilement, assault, sexual harassment, and rape or battering, child abuse, for example denial of right, necessities and opportunities, threatening patterns of communication such as insults, harassment, neglectful lack of action.

Traditionally, in Nigeria, as in many other African countries, the beating of wives and children is widely sanctioned as a form of discipline. Therefore, in beating their-children parents believe they are instilling discipline in them, much the same way as in husbands beating their wives, who are regarded like children to be prone to indiscipline which must be curbed. This is especially so when the woman is economically dependent on the man. (UNICEF, 2001). The society is basically patriarchal and women’s place within the scheme is decidedly subordinate. Domestic violence therefore functions as a means of enforcing conformity with the role of a woman within customary society. It therefore does not matter if the woman is economically dependent or not, her position, like that of the children is subordinate. Violence against women in the home is generally regarded as belonging to the private sphere in Nigeria and is therefore shielded from outside scrutiny. A culture of silence reinforces the stigma attached to the victim rather than condemning the perpetrator of such crimes (afrol News, 2007).

According to Clerk (2011) when a mother is abused, the children may feel guilty that they cannot protect her or that they are the cause of the strife. They may themselves be abused, or neglected while the mother attempts to deal with the trauma. The rate of child abuse is 6-15 times higher in families where the mother is abused. Exposure to violence has been associated with problems in children’s cognitive process and poor academic functioning. Researchers have linked exposure to chronic abuse and violence with lower scores, poorer language skills, decrement in visual-motor integrations skills and problems with attention memory. Cognitive problems associated exposure to violence and abuse comprise one of the most direct trends to the development task of school adaptation and academic achievements. (Njoroge, 2014).

It was on the forgoing problems that this research was carried out in order to investigate the consequences of domestic violence on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Bida Local Government Area.