Students' Alienation from School and Dynamics of Academic Aspirations in Secondary Schools within Buea Municipality, Fako Division of the South West Region of Cameroon

The study examined the causes of students’ alienation from school and its effects on their academic aspirations in the Buea municipality. The study sort to know the things that scare students away from school (or those that attract them out of the school) and the impact that this has on their academic aspirations. The study was carried out in some selected secondary schools in the Buea Municipality of the Fako division of the South West Region of Cameroon; and was informed by the following theories: Keniston’s (1965) Theory of Youth Alienation; Maslow’s (1970) Hierarchy of Needs Theory and Social cognitive theory by Bandura (1997). The research design used was the survey research design. The sample size was 130 students from Forms 3 and 4. Students were selected using the purposive sampling technique. The instrument used for collecting data was a questionnaire. The results of the study revealed that the prevalence of alienation was manifested by 42% of the participants of the study and it was also found that Students who have high academic aspiration perform well academically, while those with low academic aspiration do not perform well academically. Based on the results of the findings, it was recommended that counsellors should be trained and provided in schools; and the counsellors should give counselling sessions to students and their parents, especially students who have manifested signs of alienation