IMPACT OF ECONOMIC RECESSION IN OSUN STATE OF NIGERIA ON PHYSICS EDUCATION: THE WAY FORWARD

This study investigated the impact of economic recession in Osun State of Nigeria on Physics education. The study adopted descriptive survey design. 400 Physics students were randomly selected from the population through random sampling technique and were used for the study. Physics Achievement Test (PAT) and Impact of Economic Recession on Physics Education Questionnaire (IERPEQ) were the instruments used to collect data. The internal consistencies of PAT and IERPEQ were 0.81 and 0.76 through the use of Kuder-Richardson formula 21 and Cronbach Alpha respectively. The results showed that, economic recession has negative impact on standard of education (r = -.89, p = .000), teaching process (r = .82, p = .000) and students’ academic performance in Physics (r = -.84, p = .000). The results also showed that economic recession has highest impact on standard of education (r2 = .79) in Osun State of Nigeria. This was seconded by students’ academic performance in Physics (r2 = .71) while economic recession has the least impact on teaching process (r2 = .67) in Osun State of Nigeria. It was recommended among others that, Nigerian government should find another means of generating income apart from crude oil export in order to cushion the effect of economic recession and also, Nigerian government should allocate at least 26% of the total budget to education as recommended by UNESCO