This study analyzed the effects of urban population growth on the physical environment of the urban secondary schools in Anambra State. The pursued objectives were: to determine the number of schools and staff in each selected school in the study area, determine the effects of urban population growth on the selected secondary schools in the study area and the level of significance of the effects of population growth on the physical environment of the study area. The study adopted descriptive survey research design having two well-structured copies of questionnaire been administered to two sets of the population target. Four hundred (400) copies of the questionnaire were administered and three hundred and eighty-one (381) were returned. The stratified random sampling technique was adopted in the field sampling. The analyses of the responses from the respondents show that the following are the effects of population growth on the physical environment in schools: unplanned de–vegetation occasioned by loitering students; remarkable defacing and deterioration of the school compounds and ecstatic beauty of the landscape; compounds most times littered with wastes; numerous track routes are created to alter the walkways enshrined in the school designs; presence of spillover waste receptacles; among others. The test of hypothesis showed that there is significant effect of population growth on the physical environment of the schools. The study therefore recommended that: more teachers should be employed to stabilize student to teacher ratio; formulation and implementation of legislation on the number of students a class should have and policy to control student’s enrolment in line with the capacity of each school in accordance with UNESCO’s recommendation of 1:25 Teacher and Students ratio. Improved infrastructural facilities to balance population increase within the schools.
Citation: Nwike, E. C., Okoye, C. O. &Nwike, I. S. (2023) Analyses of the Effects of Urban Population Growth on the Physical Environment of the Urban Secondary Schools in Anambra State, British Journal of Environmental Sciences, Vol.11, No.1, pp.,1-10
Keywords: Effects, physical environment, urban population growth, urban secondary schools
