Abstract:
Acceleration of pupils has become a common but controversial practice with private primary schools in Nigeria and Sokoto state in particular. This research aimed at comparing the performance of primary 6 pupils who were accelerated and those who were not in selected primary schools in Sokoto metropolis, Sokoto state, Nigeria. Four leading private schools in Sokoto metropolis were purposively selected to meet the target sample. The total population of primary 6 pupils in these schools was involved in this research since primary 6 pupils are scarce in most schools while some schools do not even have them because of acceleration. A total of 235 pupils were used (FGCSS 89, FSS 23, Alheri Schools 29 and Blue Crescent Schools 94). A correlational research design was adopted. Three hypotheses were generated and the t-test statistics was used to test them. The instruments used for collecting data were; (i) a questionnaire aimed at identifying pupils who have skipped class from the time they started school and the class(s) they skipped (ii) an academic performance test in English and Mathematics for primary 6 pupils adopted from Njoku (2010), a validated instrument that has high rate of internal consistency. The results of the research showed that accelerated pupils performed better than non-accelerated pupils generally and in English language and Mathematics respectively. It was therefore recommended that acceleration of pupils should not end with making children finish school at young age rather it should aim at identifying and training these gifted children for the needed technological development in Nigeria. This can be done by expanding and enriching their curriculum.
