Teaching Thinking: Using a Creativity Technique for the Eradication of Truancy among Students to Enhance the Success of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria

Abstract

Truancy is an antisocial behavior perpetrated by many students in the lower secondary school, and which is specifically rampant in Osun State of Nigeria public schools, which if not properly addressed could abort the laudable objectives of the Universal Basic Education (U.B.E.) in Nigeria. Therefore, this study explored how Lateral Thinking Creativity technique could be utilized to teach the truants to think right and take rational decisions that would make them jettison truancy for the success of the U.B.E. in Nigeria. A pre-test-post-test quasi experimental group design was adopted. A sample of 100 Junior Secondary School II students playing truancy randomly selected from Ila and Iwo Local Government areas of Osun state were used for the study. Their ages ranged from 10-16 years with a mean of 13 years. Fifty students from Ila formed the experimental while the other fifty from Iwo made the control group. The experimental group was subjected to six weeks of training in Lateral Thinking Creativity technique for one hour twice a week while the control group was asked to wait a little time for attention. A validated instrument, Animasahun (2008) truancy scale was administered on all the participants in both groups at both the pre and post test situations. The result showed that there was a significant difference in the post-test truancy behavior scores between the experimental and the control groups (F(1,97) = 24.795<0.05). The significant difference in their adjusted mean scores (41.516) and (47.864) also prove that there was a significant difference in the post-test scores of the participants as the experimental group scored significantly lower than the control on truancy scale. It should be noted that the lower the score on truancy scale the better for the person. It was therefore recommended that any student playing truancy should undergo training in Lateral thinking creativity technique so as to be able to think rationally and have a change of attitude in order to reduce truancy and consequent dropping out of school.