Unemployment and poor economic condition of many families in Nigeria has forced some parents to engage their children in street hawking to support family income. This can have hazardous effects on the children and put their future at risk. This paper examined the impact of street hawking on study habits and academic performance of secondary school students in Ado Ekiti. The population consisted of all students involved in hawking in secondary schools. The sample was 180 secondary school students selected through purposive sampling technique. One research question was raised and three research hypotheses were tested. Two instruments titled “Questionnaire on Street Hawking and Study Habit (QSHSH)” and “Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT)” validated and tested for reliability were used for the study. The reliability test yielded 0.74 and 0.71 coefficients for QSHSH and SSAT respectively. Data collected were analysed using frequency count, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation at 0.05 level of significance. Finding of the study revealed that student hawkers exhibited poor study habits which led to their poor academic performance. It was recommended among others that student hawkers should learn to form good study habits of reading and preparing early for examination so as to improve their academic performance while government should improve the standard of living of the people in order to reduce poverty which is the main cause of street hawking.
Keywords: : Academic Performance, Street hawking, Students, Study Habit, achievement test, student hawkers.
