Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School

Late coming in secondary schools are becoming a contributing agent to the problems schools are facing morally. What makes children fail to arrive at school on time each day? So, Why do Secondary School Students Come Late to School?

Is it because they don’t want to go or because their parents force them? Or maybe it has something to do with their environment, who knows. Read also: Why is it important to teach science in primary schools.

Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School

Secondary schools students often experience pressure from their families to perform well academically. This pressure sometimes leads to stress and anxiety, causing some students to miss class although this case may not be the same for every student.

In this article we will look at the reasons why secondary school students come late to school and what can be done about it to stop further occurrences. 

What is the most common cause of Secondary School Students coming Late To School?

Most teens typically spend around 6 hours a day in front of screens, whether it’s homework, social media or video games everyday. Over the years, when done continuously leads to negative consequences such as obesity, poor sleep habits, depression, anxiety and even addiction.

Although some studies suggest that teens who get less screen time tend to be better behaved, the number of kids who consistently stay after school has dropped over the last decade. Below are the 5 most common reasons students come late to school. 

Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School

5 Reasons why secondary schools students come late to school

1. Lack of interest in learning

When you ask students what they like about school, most will tell you that they enjoy being able to learn new things. However, when you look into the reasons for this, you find out that many students are not motivated by the subject matter itself but rather by the people around them.

Students often feel pressured to succeed academically, which can take away from the joy of actually learning. They also feel stressed about making friends and fitting in socially. These factors contribute to lower motivation. Visit most secondary schools you’d discover that students deliberately miss classes because there’s no interest. Even when they want to come, they’d come pretty late. Lack of interest is eating up the foundation of success. 

2. Teachers don’t care

Many teachers have an extremely high workload, leaving little time to teach their classes. Others may use teaching methods that are outdated, which leaves students bored. The result is that students don’t pay attention and don’t try hard in class. It is obvious that today in secondary schools, a lot of teachers are finding it difficult to stay up to date. Many of them are still entangled in the old method of teaching, using outdated textbooks and formulas. 

Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School

3. School doesn’t prepare students for the real world

Today’s students need to work together as a team, solve problems, communicate effectively and collaborate with others if they hope to compete in today’s job market. Without them networking with other students they wouldn’t take their education seriously and that would warrant them to do things the way they like at any time. 

In order to do so, schools must help develop these skills in their students. Unfortunately, schools today still focus too much on testing and memorizing facts and formulas instead of helping students understand how to think logically and analyze situations. You may Read: The Effect of Recreational Activities in the Academic Live of a Child.

4. Too much homework

Homework used to be 10% of your grade back in the 60s. Nowadays, it accounts for 30-50%. Why does homework continue to increase? Because schools believe that more assignments equals higher grades. But research shows that students are unable to retain information properly if they cram it all down their throats. Instead, it’s best to break up large amounts of material into smaller chunks and practice techniques that allow them to remember information easily.

Knowing too well that every child is not expected to have equal time, school teachers still go on to load them assignments on different subjects. In the case of time management, many of the students end up not doing the assignment at the right time. They wake up early, after doing their house chores, are still expected to finish the assignments before returning back to school. 

Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School

5. Students are too busy with Cell Phone

Technology allows us to keep connected to our friends online throughout the entire day. Many students report feeling lonely without their cell phones. Some even say that they would give anything just to talk to someone on the phone. It’s important to note that technology isn’t bad per se but however, we should make sure that we’re using it appropriately. We shouldn’t let electronics rule our lives, especially since they rarely allow us to disconnect and relax. 

6. Absence of an organized transportation system.

In some cities, especially in developing countries, public transport systems are limited. Students who live far from their schools must rely on private vehicles to commute. However, taking taxis when the school buses are not available are forced to walk long distances to school, leading to tardiness. Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School.

 

5 Solutions to causes of lateness to schools

To aggressively fight the above situations, here are some ways to help students to come to school on time.

1. Provide safe and reliable transportation options. 

Providing public transportation systems offer frequent service, making it easy for students to get to school on time. However, not every city has such services, so students must find other ways to get there. For example, many parents provide rides to their children because they want them to arrive at school early and when it is no longer available as it used to be it results in coming late.

2. Have a positive attitude towards education. 

When students enjoy what they learn, they tend to perform better. If you don’t like something, then you won’t put forth any effort. Therefore, try to look at things positively and have fun while learning. This is for teachers who specialize in conducting dull classes to stop it and adopt a better way of teaching that would make the students want more of spending time with them. 

Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School – Solutions

3. Set expectations with parents. 

School management should explain to parents why it’s important for students to be on time. Also talk to parents about the consequences of their child arriving late. Parents often feel guilty when their kids are late, but this is normal. They may also feel embarrassed or angry when their child arrives late. They should try to explain to them that being on time is part of life and that everyone makes mistakes. All these can be sorted out diplomatically. 

4. Give students incentives & Punish offenders. 

Rewards can motivate students to work hard. You could reward them by giving out prizes or offering freebies. Also punishing later comers would instill a consciousness in them that if they miss class, they will lose valuable opportunities.

5. Make students accountable. 

Students should know that teachers and administrators expect them to be punctual. They should also be made to realize that if they miss classes without a genuine reason it would affect them in the long run when they wish to correct them but would not be able to. 

Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School

 Summary

Students who attend public schools tend to be less disciplined, and therefore, have negative attitudes towards education. Early arrival tends to be associated with the culture and lifestyle of the parents. Parents who allow their child to sleep past 8 am feel that their child needs rest, and are willing to sacrifice anything for their child’s welfare. Late arrivals are likely to miss classes and assignments, leading to low grades, and ultimately, dropping out of school.

In essence, students who attend private schools are more disciplined and motivated to succeed academically, which falls back to why private schools offer better education. These students usually wake up early and go to bed before midnight. Why Secondary School Students Come Late to School.

Their parents encourage them to stay awake until 10 pm, and even after that, they still insist that their children do homework. This gives them an advantage over those who attend public schools because a lot of their teachers don’t even care to assign work to them when going home.