An assessment of sex, school type and retention ability in basic technology achievement among senior secondary school students

Given the laudable purposes attached to study of Basic Technology in JSS, it is therefore important that students retain the skills and knowledge acquired in the course of studying the subject in the school. However, sadly, the intended effect Basic Technology as a subject in the secondary school system should have, has not been seen in the generation of able manpower readily employable for the economy. The study investigated the difference between the retention ability of male and female senior secondary students in Basic Technology, and how school type (public/private) influence retention. Two research hypotheses were formulated for the purpose of the study. The research design used in carrying out this study is Ex–post facto design. This study covered the Southern Educational Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised all senior secondary school three (SS3) students in the government-owned secondary schools and private-owned secondary schools in the southern educational zone of Cross River State. The sampling technique used is stratified random sampling technique. The sample size for this study was 487 senior secondary school three (SS3) students drawn from fourteen schools in seven local government areas of southern educational zone. The research instrument used in the study is the achievement test. The statistical analyses techniques adopted to analyze the data collected were dependent t-test and independent t-test respectively. Findings of the study showed that there is no significant difference in retention between males and females, public and private schools in senior secondary school in Basic Technology. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made which include that there is a need to focus on the female folks in the execution of national policy on education. This study shows that the female folk arecapable of achieving and retaining as much the male folks during learning. Much effort should be made by the government to bridge the disparity between male and female folks in enrolment into and completion of the secondary school education. Keywords: gender, retention ability, achievement, technology, school type