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Chapter 1

The Problem

Introduction

Punctuality is the key to any goal-driven organization such as the

school. Unpunctuality of students in school has generated lots of

concern among stakeholders in the society. The school, which is

basically established to make individuals learn irrespective of gender,

ethnic group or religion, requires these individuals to arrive at school as

at when due. This implies that no meaningful activity can take place in

school with the occurrence of students’ lateness.

Lateness or unpunctuality generally refers to a situation in which a

person arrives a place at a time later than the stipulated time. It is the

inability of an individual to be at a place at an agreed time. According to

Lauby (2009), lateness in the school context, is when a student get to

school at the time exceeds the official time. Literarily, lateness to school

refers to a situation whereby a student gets to school when the

appropriate time for such as elapsed. According to Breeze and Markey

(2010), lateness can be likened to tardiness that is, not quick in carrying

out a task hence, not able to meet up with the scheduled time. It is also

expressed as being late for any observable period that exceeds the stated

time.
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There are many factors that could make a student get late or

develop the habit of getting late to school. This could range from sleeping

late, poor preparation for school, school factor, illness, economic

influence and family background among others, films at night (Marwan,

2014); watching films at night, engagement in too many house chores,

lack of motivation for school, lack of stringent rules in school against

lateness etc. (Dafiaghor, 2011). Alio (2003) states that social status of

parents could influence students’ lateness to school. Similarly, Alio noted

that school location, students’ attitude towards, poor parent-teacher

supervision and poor teaching methods culminate into students arriving

school late.

Studies on students’ lateness have been conducted. The report of a

study conducted by Okpukpara and Chukwuone (2007) showed that

female headed families breed children who had punctuality challenges

while children from father-headed families were more punctual in school.

Emore (2005) affirmed that females got late to more male; this could be

that they females were nurtured to involve in house chores and this

takes lots of time to complete. Shapira-Lishchinsky (2007) also expressed

that personality traits such feeling anxious, inferiority complex and low

self-esteem could lead to lateness to school. Oghuvbu (2008) accused

parents and the school factors as being the root cause of students’

lateness. According to Malcilm, Wilson, Davidson and Kirk (2003) and

Ubogun (2004), students’ lateness to school could be as a result of

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expensive school fees and parents’ inability to pay, lack of counselling in

school, indiscipline, non-captivating curriculum, lack of students’ self-

esteem. Clark, Peters and Tomilson (2003) submitted that there was

positive correlation between lateness and individuals’ attitude.

Lateness to school is like a cancer that impedes the development

and hinders the achievement of academic goals (Maile & Olowoyo, 2017).

It has been observed that students’ lateness is on the increase of

indiscipline and this has eaten deep into the society (Odebode, 2019).

Students no longer take punctuality in school as they should. The school

are doing all they could to curb this act but it seems the effort has no

noticeable effect, thus, making lateness to school on the increase.

This in turn culminates to increase in the turning out of half-

baked graduates’ at all educational institutions in the society. The

causes of lateness among students seem to be unclear with many

submissions being made by stakeholders. Even though there are

researches on students’ lateness to school, it was carried out in other

parts of the country. Therefore the study of this nature is needed to

address the causes of lateness to school from the Junior high school of

Cabanglasan National High School. It is on this background information

that deemed it fit to investigate the factors responsible for students’

lateness to school as expressed by Cabanglasan teachers.

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Conceptual Framework

This study is anchored on behaviorism by B.F Skinner. From a

behaviorist perspective, the transmission of information from teacher to

learner is essentially the transmission of the response appropriate to a

certain stimulus. Thus, the point of education is to present the student

with the appropriate repertoire of behavioral responses to specific stimuli

and to reinforce those responses through an effective reinforcement

schedule. An effective reinforcement schedule requires consistent

repetition of the material; small, progressive sequences of tasks; and

continuous positive reinforcement. Without positive reinforcement,

learned responses will quickly become extinct (Mahmoodi-Shahrebabaki,

2018).

This is because learners will continue to modify their behavior

until they receive some positive reinforcement. Behaviorist theorists

believe that behavior is shaped deliberately by forces in the environment

and that the type of person and actions desired can be the product of

design. In other words, behavior is determined by others, rather than by

our own free will. By carefully shaping desirable behavior, morality and

information is learned. Learners will acquire and remember responses

that lead to satisfying after effects. Repetition of a meaningful connection

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results in learning. If the student is ready for the connection, learning is

enhanced; if not, learning is inhibited. Motivation to learn is the

satisfying after effect, or reinforcement.

Schematic Diagram

Dependent Variable Independent Variable

Factors of Academic
lateness of Performance
students
(Unpunctuality)

Demographic
Profile of the
students

Intervening Variable

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the Study

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The figure above are the variables involved in the study. This

diagram shows the causal relationship of the variables with one another.

The dependent variable are the factors of lateness or unpunctuality that

can be discovered in the findings of the study. These factors can be

influenced by the intervening variable which is the demographic profile of

the students that can affect the factors as can be found in some studies.

These dependents and intervening variable can affect the overall

academic performance of the students.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the factors affecting the punctuality

of students Junior high school students of Cabanglasan National High

School which are the students from Grade 7-Grade 10. Specifically, this

study attempts to answer the following questions:

1. What are the factors affecting the punctuality of students?

2. Is there a significant relationship between students’ punctuality

and gender?

3. What strategy should be recommended?

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Significance of the Study

This study is conducted in the hope of benefitting the following

individuals and groups.

School counsellors. School counsellors will be able to guide students

against arriving late to school.

Parents. The findings of this study will be of immense benefit to parents

as they will be able to monitor their wards and ensure they do not go late

to school.

Society. The entire populace will also benefit from the findings of this

study as students who do not arrive late to school are likely to be good

instrument for national development in the nearest future.

Scope and delimitation of the study

This study is limited only to the factors affecting lateness or

unpunctuality of students in Grade 7-Grade 10 in Cabanglasan National

High School. The time limitation of this study will be 2023.

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Definition of Terms

The following terms are used in the study conceptually and

operationally defined in order to provide clearer and better reference and

understanding of the research.

Punctuality. This study defined punctuality as the student’s behavior to

be on the right time given by the school to start their classes. The

punctuality is a behavior human that makes point to reach places in the

exact schedule previously agreed (Alvi, 2021).

Lateness. Lateness is used in this study as the student’s behavior to

arrive late in class. Lateness entails any act of arriving or coming after

the due or usual time. Getting late in school is arriving at school at a

time contrary to the rules of the school (Smart, 2021).

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Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presented the related literature and studies gathered

by the researcher with bearing or connection with the main problem of

this present research on the implication of the problem. The following

are the researchers gathered related literature and studies arranged

according to the variables of the study.

Lateness affects student’s punctuality

Punctuality is said to be the soul of business, and there can be

nothing more fundamental to the school business than punctuality

(Ezewu, 2011). Thus punctuality could be seen in two dimensions that is

coming to the school at the right time and closing at the right time. This

attitude of punctuality is both the business of the teachers and students.

Teachers cannot work without students likewise visa-versa. Students’

punctuality avail them the opportunity to attend to all school

programmers and activities. In the morning for instance the students

benefit from the morning activities such as the general assembly, where

vital information, admonitions and prayers are made. The students could

also interact with students other than their classmate and even arm.

Most importantly students who are punctual get full benefits of morning
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hour lessons, which are vital (English and Mathematics) for these

subjects are fixed during morning hours due to their importance.

On the contrary, unpunctual (late-comers) students are caned,

given corporal punishment such as toilet washing, sweeping, weeding

and lot more. These punishments have dual effects on the students, thus

afflicting pains and waste of time (non-attending vital period of the

morning hours). In addition, late comers usually get mis-informed during

lessons, for they come to class while lessons have already began, they

also disturb other student’s already in class and many at times disrupt

lessons. School as a system operates in interconnection and

interrelatedness within and also with the community (the home). In the

school there exist division of responsibilities/duties among the staff and

to some extent the students. Maina and Jumare (2011) postulate that

the principal is responsible for school programmes and activities which

cover planning, organizing, controlling, coordinating and evaluating the.

This implies that the principal delegates authority/responsibility to all

staff, hitherto, the staff report back to him or her for evaluation. In the

school system, discipline and duty masters are responsible for making

sure school programmes and activities went on as planned (Kachchar,

2002).

On a general note, the principal and all stakeholders in the school

are responsible for not only punishing late comers but also for developing
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a strategy for curbing the meanness of students’ late coming to school.

On the other hand, parents are also stakeholders in making the success

or otherwise of their children. On students late coming parents most

work hand-in-hand with school managers to curb the menace of

students’ late-coming to school. In other words, parents must take their

responsibilities properly in making sure that students are given all they

need to go to school, allowed or conveyed in time, prepared in time and

be given transport money enough to and from the school. Unless these

issues are taken seriously, all the efforts of teachers in school would be

in vain. On the part of the government, more schools ought to be built

(increased) as the population increases. Otherwise students would be left

to trek per distances from home-school five-ten kilometers.

Umaru (2001) observes that majority of schools in rural areas were

not properly located, thus results to denial of access to a group of

children. This also reduces students’ attendance to schools. This trend is

more among girls of all these possible reasons. Students are always

blamed for late coming to school. Ezewu (2013) observed that late comers

in most schools are either sent back home, given some piece of work to

do or given some stroke of cane without regards to the reasons for their

late-coming. He advised teachers and school managers to as a matter of

fact investigate reason(s) for students late coming to schools as this may

help to reduce the problem and treat them with sympathy.

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Education as a system is bedeviled with surmountable problems.

These problems range from government (the policy maker), parents

(owners of client), society (the recipient of the school product) and

teachers (the executors of the curriculum and workers in the teaching

industry). One might not be wronged, when he says all the above could

be blamed in one way or the other on the nature of responsibility

shouldered. Thus in a general overview, these problems culminate to

what is referred to as falling standard of education, of cause how can a

student pass examination while trekking several kilometers to school, do

some homework (like fetch water, go to farm, wash clothes, hawk, open

shop etc) before going to school every morning and or before afternoon

classes. But in some towns, traffic hold students up for hours before and

after school hours due to inadequate roads and neighborhood schools.

Factors of lateness of students

There are many factors that could make a student get late or

develop the habit of getting late to school. This could range from sleeping

late, poor preparation for school, school factor, illness, economic

influence and family background among others, films at night (Marwan,

2014); watching films at night, engagement in too many house chores,

lack of motivation for school, lack of stringent rules in school against

lateness etc. (Dafiaghor, 2011). Alio (2003) states that social status of

parents could influence students’ lateness to school. Similarly, Alio noted

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that school location, students’ attitude towards, poor parent-teacher

supervision and poor teaching methods culminate into students arriving

school late.

Lateness to school has a positive relationship with students’ low

academic performance. This means that the more students get late to

school, the more to measuring they low academic performance. This

could be due to the fact that (1) students’ inability to attend classes

because they could not get to school as at when due, hence, they could

not partake in all the school tasks and activities for instance, partaking

in the assembly activities (Nakpodia & Dafiaghor, 2011); (2) many late

students serve punishments like washing toilets, corporal punishment,

cutting grasses which make them miss school activities the more.

Lateness is linked to time which is its measuring yardstick.

Related studies

In addition, several studies have been conducted on students’

lateness, however, this study is different from the earlier ones. For

instance, the study of Odebode (2018) which was on psychosocial factors

that affected teachers’ job performance. Although, the study was on

teachers but different variables were considered. Adegboyega, Okesina

and Jacob (2017) worked on bullying behavior among secondary school

students. Again, this study is not the same as the present study as

bullying behavior was addressed and not students’ lateness to school.

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Marwan (2014) looked at factors associated with students’ lateness

behavior; although, this study focuses on similar variable considered in

the present study however, Marwan’s study was a systematic review of

literature which adopted a theoretical approach to the problem at hand.

Similarly, Chabaya, Chiome and Chabaya (2009) focused on students’

failure to submit research on time. This study centered on both

quantitative and qualitative analysis of students and teachers at a

tertiary institution but the present study centered on teachers at the

elementary school level. Furthermore, Jummane, Maina and Ankoma-

Sey (2015) and Onoyase (2017) worked on lateness in Zaria and Ondo

States, Nigeria. Even though these researches were on students’ lateness

to school, it was carried out in other parts of the country.

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Chapter 3

Research Methodology

This chapter discussed the methodology of the investigation. It

discussed the research design, locale, respondents, instruments and the

statistical treatment of the data gathered in the study.

Research Design

Since this study investigated the factors responsible for students’

lateness to school, the descriptive survey method will be adopted. This

study will be based on epistemological approach as it is interested in

revealing the nature of the factors leading to students’ lateness to school.

The study is such that samples are drawn from the entire population and

through the use of questionnaire, information will be gathered.

Locale of the Study

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The study will focus in Cabanglasan National High School because

it is accessible to the researcher. Cabanglasan National High School is a

school in Northern Mindanao. Cabanglasan National High School is

situated nearby to the town hall Cabanglasan Municipal Hall and

Catholic Church. Cabanglasan National High School is situated close to

the pitch Cabanglasan Tennis Club and the public building Municipal

Gymnasium.

Cabanglasan, officially the Municipality of Cabanglasan, is a 3rd class

municipality in the province of Bukidnon, Philippines. Photo: Kleomarlo,

CC BY-SA 4.0 (Mapcarta,2021).

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Figure 2: Map of the Locale

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The Respondents and Sampling Procedure

The participants are the students of Cabanglasan National High

School from Grade 7 to Grade 10. The sample population will be

identified through the Raosoft sample size calculator. There are 822

students from grade 7 to grade 10. The sample population will be 263

using a 5% margin of error. This study will use stratified random

sampling because the overall population will be divided into sub-groups

in which there will be sample population from Grade 7, Grade 8, Grade

9, and Grade 10 The table below is the distribution of the respondents.

Grade Population % Sample Sub-

Distribution Population total
Male Female Male Female

7 97 118 25% 33 33 66

8 83 120 25% 33 33 66

9 87 84 25% 32 33 65

10 120 113 25% 33 33 66

Total 263
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Research Instrument

An adopted questionnaire will be used entitled ‘Factors

Responsible for Lateness Questionnaire’ (FRLQ) will be used to gather

data for the study. FRQL has 20 items that will measure the factors

responsible for lateness; respondents will be expected to respond to the

items by ticking columns provided. These columns are tagged 1-SA

(Strongly Agree); 2-A (Agree); 3-SD (Strongly Disagree); 4-D (Disagree).

The administration of FRQL will be done by the researchers, they will

explain the aim of the administration to the respondents. The

respondents will be allowed to ask questions on the instrument. Any

respondent that will not want to participate in the study will be excused.

Data Gathering Procedure

The administration of the questionnaire will be done by the

researchers, they explained the aim of the administration to the

respondents. The respondents were allowed to ask questions on the

instrument. Any respondent that did not want to participate in the study

will be excused.
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Statistical Tools

The following statistical tools will be employed to arrive at a logical

interpretation:

To answer problem number 1, mean and the standard deviation

will be used which will determine the mean of the gender and grade level

of the students.

T-Test and ANOVA will be used. The researcher will analyze the

data and group common response of the focus group participants to

answer problem number 2.

Problem number 3 treated qualitatively.

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Alio, B. C. (2003). Obstacles to effective secondary school mathematics in

education: the challenge of mathematics educators. Journal of

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Chabaya, O., Chiome, C. & Chabaya, A. R. (2009). Students’ failure to

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