Effects of poverty on academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State

The study was aimed at ascertaining the effects of poverty on the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe. Three (3) research questions and one (1) hypothesis guided the study. The population of the study is made up of year 2, year 3 and final year B.Ed students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, comprising 3, 394 undergraduates. The study used a proportionate random sampling technique to select the sample of the study, to ensure that each school of the six (6) schools in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe was proportionately represented in the population. A total of 300 students were selected as the sample for the study. Questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. In other to ascertain the face and content validity of the instrument, the questionnaire was given to an expert in Economics Department and also two experts in the department of education Measurement and Evaluation for validation. The reliability of the instrument was established using test-retest method. The data collected were analyzed using mean and chi-square. Based on the analysis of the data, the following findings were made that the government and the people, on how to improve the standard of living of the masses more especially the undergraduates in the institutions of higher learning which was as a result of effect of poverty on academic performance of the students. With view to finding out solutions to the problems in order to improve the academic performance and wellbeing of the undergraduates, it was recommended among others that undergraduates will be trained in the institutions, if only the government should help in alleviating economic poverty by providing the undergraduates with all their essential needs both in terms of social, political and economic ways which will go a long way in developing the man power and state at large. Provision of the necessary materials needed by the undergraduates will help in the development of the state.


Introduction Background of the Study
Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon.The World Development Report (2011) summarizes the various dimensions as lack of opportunity, lack of empowerment and lack of security.The window of opportunity remains closed to the poor masses, and this makes them practically inactive in the society.Their lack of empowerment limits their choices in almost everything and their lack of security makes them vulnerable to diseases, violence among others.
Education should be for all.Though education should be for all at times we discover that not all that are supposed to be in school are in school.Even some people who are in school are underperforming.Education on the other hand, is a process through which individuals acquire skills, competencies and aptitude.It is the right of every child to be educated, be it formally or informally.Education has been regarded as a culture to man, people, and the nations of the world at large.This is why man has to educate himself and his offspring in the society.Ogu (2020) pointed out that poverty was one of the factors militating against man from carrying out his educational activities perfectly.
Because of the various perceptions and complexities of the term poverty, a universally accepted definition cannot be arrived at; but then poverty according to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defined poverty "as the state of being poor".Mike (2005) saw poverty "as a way of life characterized by low calorie intake, inaccessibility of adequate health facilities, low quality education system, low life expectancy, unemployment and under-employment".At national level, Dike (2017), noted that "anation can be considered poor when her economics standard is very low and this automatically makes the nation underdeveloped".In considering the effect of poverty on academic performance of students, to be precise, the family background is the most important phenomenon that needs to be seriously considered in order to enhance the effective study of the relationship between poverty and students` academic performance.In view of this, some factors that need to be considered in the home or family background are parents` academic qualification, socio-economic class and facilities available in the home.As regards poverty in the family level, we are referring to the family background.Even before the indigenous education or western type of education, the home has always been the agency through which man learnt various aspect of life to enable him live a meaningful life in his environment.The home which provides the basic traditional way of educating the young ones is still regarded as the first school of a child before he enters the larger society.The role of the home cannot be over emphasized because the general assumptions that states of poverty in the family or home goes to a long way to determine the extent of youth or students educational development.Education is seen by many as the route to alleviate poverty.There is no doubt that meaningful education is the most potent instrument for alleviating and eventually abolishing poverty.Not every poor person is hungry, but almost all hungry people are poor.Millions of people live with hunger and malnutrition because they simply cannot afford to buy enough nutritious food as well as the farm produce needed to grow enough good food on their own.Hunger can be viewed as a dimension of extreme poverty.It is often called the most severe and critical manifestation of poverty.
Nevertheless, according to McLoyd (2019), "poverty is one of the most prevalent indicators of academic achievement in our schools today".As the number of students raised in poverty increases, it is equally important that educators be aware of the effects of poverty on student's behaviour and learning capacity in the classroom.Thus, there are many challenges faced by children raised in poverty.Some challenges are long term obstacles such as chronic stressors and changes in brain structure that affects emotion and memory.Other challenges are more situational causing emotional and social struggles.Parents or guardians are often overworked due to working more than one job to make ends meet.
In addition, Jensen, (2019), emphasized that children raised in poverty may not be socially gracious.They may lack the ability to empathize with others.This lack of empathy, in turn, makes it difficult for these students to work well in cooperative groups with their classmates.This inability to work well with classmates often results in students becoming unwanted participants in groups, adding to their feelings of inadequacy and resulting in the students giving up on a task just before they successfully complete it.
Jones, Wilson, Clark and Dunham (2018), pointed out that poor social skills, which result in a lack of acceptance from peers, may cause decreases in academic performance.Children living in poverty see many chronic stressors, including unsafe neighbourhood where there are high levels of crime, parents who are making minimum wage which causes a financial strain on the family, parents who are separated or divorced, siblings living in different households, and households that are overcrowded.All of these stressors create a void in the lives of children raised in poverty, and result in poor academic performance and behavioural issues in school.These students have a higher level of absenteeism, they struggle with focus and concentration, they have significantly more difficulty in comprehension and memory, and they struggle with motivation.
Lastly, Johnson (2016) stated that children raised in poverty are more apt to experience cognitive lags due to significant changes in brain structure in areas related to memory and emotion.Poverty may make it difficult for parents to purchase toys and books to promote cognitive stimulation for their children, thereby causing the children to have a lesser vocabulary and a more directed speech.According to Brito and Noble (2014), developmental delays are more prevalent for children raised in poverty as opposed to those raised in more affluent homes.Poor performance on tests when asked to show their knowledge, behavioural problems in the classroom, mental health issues, and emotional problems are also viewed more frequently in those children who have been raised in a lower socioeconomic home.It is altruism that children brought up in a poor home may exhibit some or most of these characteristics.We have even children from poor background excelling in academics even more than those ones brought rich homes.So, there is no hard and fast rule that every children brought up in a poor home must be unruly and weird.That is why this study is apt to find out if most of the characteristics noted are prevalent among the students in Nwafor Orizu College of Education Nsugbe.From the above idea, it becomes imperative to conduct an empirical study to ascertain the extent poverty affects academic performance of students in Nwafor Orizu College of Education Nsugbe.

Statement of the problem
Evidence shows that in Nigeria, the number of those in poverty has continued to increase every year.This is because the diversity of the world poverty by different scholars who have used it in their course of study and how it has affected the learning and performance of the students in their educational development.Goldstem (2016) admitted this concept when he said that the fact that much of youth educational development takes places in a circle or home, the child begins to attend school in psychological tourism, an attempt would be made to determine the influence of parent's socioeconomic performance and the poverty impact on student's education.
Ojiakor (2014) observed that Students academic performance in most tertiary institutions of higher learning nowadays is no longer something to write home about, thus, it is greatly low in schools and colleges.Most undergraduate students of tertiary institutions seem to perform very poor in their courses hence the number of carryovers in schools continue to increase.Some find it very difficult to defend themselves as students in terms of behavioural dispositions and problem-solving in the society.A number of factors have been attributed to this poor academic performance among students, but the most concerning one is poverty.Also, students' performance in schools remains unsatisfactory in examinations.It is based on the above problems that this study sets to examine the effects of poverty on the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe.

Purpose of the Study
The general purpose of this study was to examine the effects of poverty on the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State.This research also aimed at achieving the following specific objectives.1.
To determine if students from poor homes display aggressive behaviour in class.2.
To examine the extent to which poverty stressors affect the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State.

3.
To determine if there is any difference between the academic performance of students from poor homes and rich homes.

Significance of the Study
The study would benefit a number of individuals such as the government, students, teachers, curriculum planners and the society and future researchers.
The study would provide the government with information about the importance of students' academic performance, factors hindering the students' academic performance and ways of improvement.This will help the government in formulation and implementation of education policy.Therefore, the government through ministry of education will be able to review the standard of teaching and learning and come up with a better method for effective teaching and learning in schools so that there can be improvement for achieving the stated goals of education in Nigerian schools.
The findings of the study would also enable the teachers through its findings and recommendations to know the major factor hindering students' academic performance in schools, the best teaching strategies that are proper for effective teaching and learning in order to achieve classroom and lesson objectives.However, it should be noted that in classroom encounter, every teacher must establish in an objective terms, his or her targeted objectives of a particular lesson which must predicate on students` learning.In achieving those stated objectives of a lesson, teachers need to know the motivational techniques to be employed so as to achieve them at the end.This is where the findings of study would provide the teacher with relevant information.
Furthermore, the study would equally help the curriculum planners to know certain educational and motivational techniques that should be advocated through curriculum development and implementation for effective teaching and learning in schools.It also provides the curriculum planners relevant information about problems or challenges in the process of teaching and learning of the subject matter which should be included in the curriculum.The study would also provide information that will help in curriculum planning and implementation.
Finally, the study would be of immense help to future researchers during review of related studies as this study will provide them with related literature.

Scope of the Study
The study in its scope was delimited to the effects of poverty on academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe.Attention will be on the prevalence of poverty among students in the area, behavioral attributes of poor students, their level of class attendance.The study however, will be delimited to six schools that offer degree courses in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe which include: School of Education, School of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Sciences, School of Languages, and school of Vocational Education, and School of Early Childhood Care Education.

Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study: 1.
Do students' from poor homes display abnormal behaviours in the classroom?2.
To what extent does poverty stressor affect the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State? 3.
Is there any difference between the performance of students from poor and rich homes?

Null Hypothesis
The following hypothesis guided the study: Ho 1 : Poverty stressors do not significantly affect the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State

Research Design
The research design adopted in the study was a survey research design.Mmaduakonam (2014) opined that a survey research design is a critical examination of events, objects, subjects or ideas with the intent of providing exact information about the conditions of such phenomena.

Area of the Study
The

Sample and Sampling Techniques
The study used a proportionate random sampling technique to select the sample of the study.This was carried to ensure that each school was proportionately represented in the population.On the whole, samples of three hundred (300) students were selected, and table 3.2 showed the proportion taken from each school.

Instrument for Data Collection
The instrument used for data collection was researcher's structured questionnaire.The questionnaire was formulated based on the research questions posed in the study.The questionnaire has two sections, sections A and B. Section A contains personal data of the respondents, while section B contains questionnaire items developed based on the research questions to elicit the required information from the respondents.The opinion of the respondents were obtained using four point Likert rating scale, ranging from Strongly Agree (SA) 4 points, Agree (A) 3 points, Disagree (D) 2 points, Strongly Disagree (SD) 1 point.

Validation of the Instrument
In order to ascertain the face and content validity of the instrument, the questionnaire was given to the an expert in Home Economics Department and also two experts in the department of Education Measurement and Evaluation for criticisms.They vetted the instrument on its relevance to the study, clarity and appropriateness in wording.Hence their recommendations were properly incorporated in the final version of the instrument used.

Reliability of the Instrument
The reliability of the instrument was established using test-retest method.The instruments were administered to 22 students which were not part of the sample used for the study.The instrument was later reshuffled and re-administered to the same students within an interval of two weeks.The responses were correlated using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient (PPMCC).The correlation result was 0.80 which showed a very high relationship indicating that the instrument was reliable enough for the study.

Method of Data Collection
The researcher used primary data method with the use of questionnaire.Primary data was collected which contained the age, sex, and qualifications of the respondents and responses from research quest.The researcher used direct delivery techniques to administer the questionnaire to the selected three hundred (300) respondents with the help of two researcher's assistants.300 copies were filled and returned on the spot, Thus 300 copies were used for data analysis.

Method of Data Analysis
The data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed using the Mean () and chi-square.The data were analysis by calculating mean scores of the responses to the items as follows: Mean was computed using this formula: F FX X Rem.
F FX X Rem.The Computations of the expected frequencies were obtained by the use of formula E = Ʃ (Total Row X Total Column) Grand Total The Computation of Chi-Square is: X 2 Cal = 87.969Degree of freedom (df) -= (R-1) (C-1) i.e. row less x column less 1 = (5-1) (4-1) 4X3 = 12 Level of significance = 0.05 X 2 ∝= 0.05 under 12 in a four figure table i.e. 21.026

Decision
Using the above analysis of Ho 1 , the calculated or table value is 87.969 while critical value or table is 21.026.There calculated value is greater than critical value.This implies that we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis.Thus, poverty has significant relationship with the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State.

Summary of the Major Finding
From the data analysis presented, the following findings were made that: 1.
Students' from poor homes display abnormal behaviours in the classroom which includes: Poor students display disordered behavior like, frequent fighting, noise making, bullying, and lying.poor students are never polite to people, poorly brought up students are not empathetic, the poorly brought up students finds it difficult to work with others, poorly brought up students rarely miss classes, poorly brought up children are very polite and respectful to people, poorly brought up children are not always polite respectful to people, growing up in poverty can also dampen the development of empathy due to a range of stresses, including stress on parents and refusing to follow staff instructions or go to designated person/classroom.

2.
The effects of poverty on undergraduate students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe; includes; that living in poverty is also correlated with school dropout, poor social skills, lack of acceptance from peers, focus and concentration, decrease in self-confidence, always poorly dressed and lacks most of study materials.

3.
The impacts of education on poverty eradication among undergraduate students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe.All the items in the above table scored above 2.5 and they were accepted that the wealthy students have tutors and have access to the best colleges and poor children tend to attend poor schools.Students from low-income families may face greater financial challenges and lack of resources, but they may also have more motivation to succeed and develop a strong work ethic.The rich parents have received more educational opportunities at home.The poor/average parents were not able to receive as much opportunities, do not know of opportunities/things, and/or cannot afford it (time or money wise) even if they really value it.Rich babies are more likely to have parents that pay attention to early childhood nutrition and early childhood development, while they rejected that the poor students have tutors and have access to the best colleges and rich children tend to attend poor schools.Students from high-income families may face greater financial challenges and lack of resources, but they may also have less motivation to succeed and develop a strong work ethic with means scores of 1.56 and 1.86 respectively.

4.
Thus, poverty has significant relationship with the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State.

Discussion of Findings
Discussion of findings was based on the research questions as analyzed in the chapter four, organized under the following. Do students' from poor homes display abnormal behaviours in the classroom?Results in table 1 revealed that Poor students display disordered behavior like, frequent fighting, noise making, bullying, and lying.poor students are never polite to people, poorly brought up students are not empathetic, the poorly brought up students finds it difficult to work with others, poorly brought up students rarely miss classes, poorly brought up children are very polite and respectful to people, poorly brought up children are not always polite respectful to people, growing up in poverty can also dampen the development of empathy due to a range of stresses, including stress on parents and refusing to follow staff instructions or go to designated person/classroom.This is in line with Oyekale, Oyekale and Adeoti, (2017) who opined that the income inequality between the people in rural and urban areas in Nigeria is remarkably high, as those who live in the rural areas base all their income on agriculture which is today not a thriving sector in Nigeria as oil has taken over the economy.Oluwatayo (2018) laziness is a common disease which is virtually suffered by many Nigerians today, especially those from wealthy households.Everyone wants to be comfortable but they are not ready to work towards it.Also education can play a major role in reducing poverty.The negative behavioural and academic outcomes associated with poverty are likely due to multiple stressors that result from a lack of resources (Crosnoe and Cooper, 2020).The stressors that students from poor families face in their homes and communities may accumulate over time, compounding the likelihood of negative outcomes (Garmezy, 2015).


The effects of poverty on undergraduate students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe; Table 2 indicates that the effects of poverty on undergraduate students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe; includes that living in poverty is also correlated with school dropout, poor social skills, lack of acceptance from peers, focus and concentration, decrease in self-confidence, always poorly dressed and lacks most of study materials.This is agreement with Rowan, Cohen and Raudenush (2014) who stresses that poverty directly affects academic achievement due to the lack of resources available for student success.Low achievement is closely correlated with lack of resources, and numerous studies have documented the correlation between low socioeconomic status and low achievement.Poverty leads to lack of educational resources in poor schools and sometimes could hinder learning.Without providing good facilities, teaching materials, textbooks and classroom resources, it becomes hard to facilitate good learning and quality teaching.The gaps in achievement among poor and advantaged students are substantial.


The impacts of education on poverty eradication among undergraduate students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe.

5.
Results in table 3 revealed that the impacts of education on poverty eradication among undergraduate students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe includes that the wealthy students have tutors and have access to the best colleges and poor children tend to attend poor schools.Students from low-income families may face greater financial challenges and lack of resources, but they may also have more motivation to succeed and develop a strong work ethic.The rich parents have received more educational opportunities at home.The poor/average parents were not able to receive as much opportunities, do not know of opportunities/things, and/or cannot afford it (time or money wise) even if they really value it.Rich babies are more likely to have parents that pay attention to early childhood nutrition and early childhood development, while they rejected that the poor students have tutors and have access to the best colleges and rich children tend to attend poor schools.Students from high-income families may face greater financial challenges and lack of resources, but they may also have less motivation to succeed and develop a strong work ethic.This finding is in line with Harris (2016) stressing that poverty presents a number of challenges to its victims such as access to proper health facilities, education, nutrition, employment and the realization of personal aspirations.Of particular concern to this study are challenges that poverty stricken students face in their quest for education.The plight of poverty stricken students in exasperated by stringent school policies that pertain the payment of fees, attitudes by teachers and fellow students, shortage of food, school wear and stationery.An unsupported home environment further complicates the poverty stricken students' drive to acquire decent education. Thus, poverty has significant relationship with the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State.In line Jones, Wilson, Clark and Dunham, (2018), pointed out that poor social skills, which result in a lack of acceptance from peers, may cause decreases in academic performance.Children living in poverty see many chronic stressors, including unsafe neighbourhoods where there are high levels of crime, parents who are making minimum wage which causes a financial strain on the family, parents who are separated or divorced, siblings living in different households, and households that are overcrowded.All of these stressors create a void in the lives of children raised in poverty, and result in poor academic performance and behavioural issues in school.These students have a higher level of absenteeism, they struggle with focus and concentration, they have significantly more difficulty in comprehension and memory, and they struggle with motivation.

Conclusion
Poverty is multi-dimensional and even though it is difficult to separate the various dimensions of poverty from the various causes of poverty, in the case of Nigeria, we have shown that unemployment, corruption, the non-diversification of Nigeria's economy, inequality, laziness, and a poor education system are some of the key determinants of poverty.These determinants are many times related to each other and also enforce each other.For example, unemployment, poor education and poverty can be seen as vicious cycle.Today, people who are not educated lack the opportunity of being hired for good jobs, and the poor masses today still cannot afford to go to school which makes them the poor unemployed masses tomorrow.Hence, all these factors are correlated and must all be tackled together if any progress wants to be made.Being educated does not necessarily mean you will be employed.Many people graduate from school and stay for years without a job.This is partly due to a lack of employment opportunities as well as corruption.Many offices hire solely by preference, not by merit.Preferential treatments have become the order of the day, and this increases the number of unemployed graduates.Nigeria needs to do more for the employment of young graduates, which will also help in reducing crime rates, as many youths resort to crime for survival.A factor that is very critical for Nigeria is the need for economic diversification.As the Niger Delta crisis suggests, if

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there is a problem in the oil sector, the whole country is facing economic and social problems as oil contributes about 97 percent of Nigeria's export revenues.More investments need to be made in the agricultural sector and other promising sectors of the economy.
As discussed so far, that poverty has effect in the training of undergraduates in the institutions of higher learning especially in NOCEN and Anambra State at large having seen the economic effect of poverty in the training of undergraduates, there is need for government intervention in helping the parents and people of Anambra State at large by improving their standard of living, as to bring high income of the parents to help in the training of the undergraduates in the institutions of higher learning.The parents on their own should put in more effort to see that their children are educated because the students are the man power we have and our future leaders.

Educational Implication
The following educational implications were considered from the study; 1.
Provision of the necessary materials needed by the undergraduates will not help in the development of the State.

2.
Low standard of living has effect on the training of undergraduates.

3.
Poverty has a significant effect or hinder the training of undergraduates 4.
The respondents were undecided on the effects of unequal distribution of wealth on the training of undergraduate.

5.
Inadequate reading materials affect the training of undergraduates.

6.
Poverty has effect on the reading habits of the undergraduates.

7.
Poor provision of the undergraduates needs affects their training in higher institutions.

8.
Low income contributes to low performance of the undergraduates.

9.
Poverty contributes to the irregular attendance of the undergraduates to their lectures.

Recommendations
Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made: 1.
The economic problem will be solved if only the government will help in chasing poverty away by improving the standard of living and have the improvement in the income of the people of Anambra State sot that the undergraduates will be trained.

2.
Undergraduates will be trained in the institutions, if only the government should help in chasing economic poverty away by providing the undergraduates with all their essential needs both in terms of social, political and economic ways which will go a long way in developing the man power and state at large.

3.
Provision of the necessary materials needed by the undergraduates will help in the development of the state.

4.
The problem of effect of poverty on the training of undergraduates can be solved by helping the people of Anambra State chasing economic poverty away.

Suggestions for Further State
The study is on effects of poverty in the academic performances of undergraduates in the institutions of higher learning in Anambra State.There is no doubt that some aspects of the effects of poverty may have been left out thus, these researchers suggest that further studies be carried out on the following.1.
The causes of poverty in Anambra state.

2.
Low income contributes to low performance of the undergraduates in their studies in Anambra State.

3.
Effects of poverty has effect in the reading habits of the undergraduate in Anambra state at large.

Limitations of the Study
This study was limited to cover certain areas because of some factors.
In the first place, the researcher found it very difficult during the process of administering the questionnaire due to the business of the respondent who have responded to some items and left other items un-responded either because of poor understanding.

1 :
X = response scores While the formula for chi-square is:E = Ʃ (Total Row X Total Column)Grand TotalNominal values assign to four scaling items are as follows; Do students' from poor homes display abnormal behaviours in the classroom?
study was carried out in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe.The institution is located at Abata village, Nsugbe, Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State.The school is one of the premier Colleges of Education in Anambra State.The institution started as College of Education, Nsugbe in 1976.Then, in 1996 the College was affiliated to the University of Nigeria Nsukka for the award of Bachelor of Education Degrees.The Colleges of Education is made up of six schools which include School of Education, School of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Sciences, School of Languages, school of Vocational Education, and School of Early Childhood Care Education.The College is located in a table land of Nsugbe in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State.Nsugbe is a town in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria.It is bounded by Onitsha on the West, Nkwelle-Ezunaka, Umunya on the South West by Omambala River (RiverAnambra) to the North, across which lies such towns as Anam and Asaba.On the East are towns such as Umuleri, Aguleri, Nando, Nteje, Awkuzu, Igbariam and Achalla.People of Nsugbe are involved in business, government and politics, banking, civil service, academia and industry.The researcher chooses the College of Education due to familiarity and also the high concentration of undergraduates who are supposedly came from certain poor family background, and this motivated the choice of area.
(3,ulation of the StudyThe population of the study is made up of year 2, year 3 and final year B.Ed students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe.According to the records from the ICT NOCEN (2023) the population of the students is Three thousand, three hundred and ninety four(3, 394).(Data collected from ICT NOCEN, 2023).The students' population is grouped according to different schools in the College as shown in the table below.

Table 1
presented above sought to find out if students' from poor homes display abnormal behaviours in the classroom.Questionnaire items 1 -9 in the table above scored above 2.5 and were accepted.The data presented above has the following mean scores 3.20, 3.01, 3.13, 3.13, 2.90, 3.16, 3.20, 2.95 and 3.97 respectively.Thus, all the items in the table were accepted on if students' from poor homes display abnormal behaviours in the classroom which includes: Poor students display disordered behavior like, frequent fighting, noise making, bullying, and lying.poor students are never polite to people, poorly brought up students are not empathetic, the poorly brought up students finds it difficult to work with others, poorly brought up students rarely miss classes, poorly brought up children are very polite and respectful to people, poorly brought up children are not always polite respectful to people, growing up in poverty can also dampen the development of empathy due to a range of stresses, including stress on parents and refusing to follow staff instructions or go to designated person/classroom..95 and 2.55 respectively, were accepted because it was above the mean score of 2.50, which indicates that the respondents accepted that the effects of poverty on undergraduate students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe; includes; that living in poverty is also correlated with school dropout, poor social skills, lack of acceptance from peers, focus and concentration, decrease in self-confidence, always poorly dressed and lacks most of study materials.
Research Question 2:To what extent do poverty stressors affect the academic performance of undergraduates in Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State?Research Question 3: Is there any difference between the performance of poor and rich students?S/N Items SA

Table 3 ,
presented the on the difference between the performance of poor and rich students of Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe: they were accepted that the wealthy students have tutors and have access to the best colleges and poor children tend to attend poor schools.Students from low-income families may face greater financial challenges and lack of resources, but they may also have more motivation to succeed and develop a strong work ethic.The rich parents have received more educational opportunities at home.The poor/average parents were not able to receive as much opportunities, do not know of opportunities/things, and/or cannot afford it (time or money wise) even if they really value it.Rich babies are more likely to have parents that pay attention to early childhood nutrition and early childhood development.This is with the mean scores of 3.22, 2.93, 2.97, 3.20, and 3.01 respectively, while items 18 and 19 were rejected that the poor students have tutors and have access to the best colleges and rich children tend to attend poor schools.Students from high-income families may face greater financial challenges and lack of resources, but they may also have less motivation to succeed and develop a strong work ethic with means scores of 1.56 and 1.86 respectively.