Perception and Challenges of Students Towards the Learning of Agricultural Science at Public Senior High Schools in Berekum East Municipal

: The purpose of the study was to determine the perception and challenges of public Senior High School students towards the learning of Agriculture in Berekum East Municipal of the Bono Region of Ghana. The study employed a quantitative approach and descriptive survey was the design. A sample size of one-hundred and thirty-seven (137) students were used. The respondents were selected through a simple random technique. A questionnaire was used to obtain information from the participants. The analyses of data were done using descriptive statistics. It was revealed that, most students perceive Agriculture as a difficult course of study and therefore do not want to study it at the senior high school level. Students also perceive that most Agricultural departments are not well resourced making the study of the course unrealistic. The students further perceive that there are limited career opportunities in studying Agriculture. The study also reached that there are numerous challenges faced by Agricultural departments such as lack of resource/research centres, lack of practice fields, inadequate teachers, and unavailability of teaching and learning materials. The conclusions drawn from the study were that, the perceptions of students towards the study of Agriculture was due to misinformation, lack of guidance and counselling and several perceived challenges of studying Agriculture. The study therefore recommended that, guidance and counselling units should be enforced in Senior high schools to offer career counselling and also, Agricultural departments in senior high schools should be well resourced and schools offering Agricultural science should have school farms or gardens for practical work


Introduction
Agriculture plays a key role in economic growth and contributes to various sectors of the Ghanaian economy such as Ghana's export earnings. It also provides a major source of raw materials for the manufacturing sector and serves as a vehicle for creating employment (Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC, 2021). The sector employs over 50 per cent of the population in Ghana and contributes up to 54 per cent of Ghana's GDP. Again, it accounts for over 40 per cent of export earnings and at the same time provides over 90 per cent of the food needs of the country (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2015).
The current administration in Ghana is making efforts through the Planting for Food and Jobs, a viable economic plan projecting agriculture as one of the major sectors of the economy. The flagship programme is being used to address the problem of recurrent situation of food insecurity, unemployment reduction, advancing improvement in foreign earnings and overhauling of the industrial sub-sector. People therefore need to be assisted and trained in the sector to make any meaningful progress and bring out desirable results from the flagship programme. This means that, the learning of Agriculture must be re-visited in our schools and Agricultural institutions. Attention should therefore be given to students' attitude towards learning agricultural science. It is prudent that, the operations and activities of agriculture of any nation be handed over to the young vibrant, innovative, talented, interested, mobile, and trainable people for sustainable agricultural production. The young people, to which majority of senior high school students belong, is a promising cohort that can easily align with the arguments of tapping into the highly resourced agricultural sector of the country if the right attitude and interest is promoted among them.
This makes Agriculture a needed sector and as such, an important course of study in our schools. Agriculture was studied in both basic and senior high schools in Ghana until 2012 when the study of Agriculture at the basic level was scratched and integrated into general science. However, it is still being studied at the senior high and tertiary levels. Learning Agriculture is very important and must be held in high esteem. This is because the learning of Agriculture in schools is an attempt to inculcate values, attitudes and knowledge in learners needed to improve agricultural production (Wanjoi, 2006). Since Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for most Ghanaians, the teaching and learning of the subject effectively must be seen as a very important aspect. It is the responsibility of agricultural teachers to establish and maintain a positive learning environment for their students to understand and develop interest in the course and make learning and progression in the area effective (Mugero, Odilla, Kathuri, & Kiriungi, 2013). This responsibility can only be satisfactorily carried out if the learners perceive the subject positively. Knowledge of the perceptions which learners have towards agriculture could help improve on the achievement and attainability in the course area. It must be learned thoroughly to achieve both educational and economic goals in order to meet the demands of changing global world (Hurst, Roberts & Harder, 2015;Davis & Jayaratne, 2015).
Students will fully comprehend and grasp a particular learning concept if they learn through the right pedagogy. It is therefore crucial to remember that certain areas of Agricultural Science, such as the comprehension of fundamental scientific ideas and solving problems is based on observed phenomena. This calls for a strong understanding as well as explanatory and problem-solving skills from the students (Menka & Atteh, 2022). However, Resmicks (2000) believes that students tend to recall concepts that require analytical thinking and basic knowledge in the concept concerned when the subject is learnt in more theoretical way than practical. The memorization of facts, rules, and regulations often results in learning deficits since the information is not integrated in a cohesive standard that would enable the students to make sense of it (Menka & Atteh, 2022).
Therefore, to bring in-depth understanding among learners, it is very important for learners to be opened to making decisions, when to make such decisions, and how those decisions will affect their learning experience. The perceptions of the learners will therefore account for the seriousness they would attach to what they learn based on what they prefer or want to learn. Learner perception is very paramount in terms of learning achievement since learners will always maintain a high interest in what they wish to learn (Menka & Atteh, 2022).
The abolition of Agricultural Science at the basic school level in Ghana in 2012 was met with a loud public outcry and criticism from experts in educational policy and curriculum developers but did not change the decision of the Ghana government at the time to consider its reinclusion. This abolishment in a way has limited the choices students and parents make when choosing courses at the senior high level. It is obvious that, since students are not exposed to the fundamental ideas in Agriculture at the basic level, their interest in pursuing the course to a higher level may appear to be quashed. This also has the tendency of portraying the level of importance attached to the learning of Agriculture at higher institutions. Meanwhile, Brooks, Zorya, Gautam and Goyal (2013) posit that, Agriculture is currently the employer of most young people. Agriculture offers the best opportunities to move out of poverty and build satisfying lives. As such, the government of Ghana considers the agricultural sector as an immediate source of employment for the youth, students and those in rural areas (MOFA, 2011).
The youth who can easily align with the exposure of tapping into the highly resourced agricultural sector of the country seem to have no interest due to poor perceptions and bad attitude being promoted among them. Unfortunately, Adejoh et al. (2016) reported a decline in the number of students who choose agricultural science among the list of subjects in senior secondary schools in Nigeria. Similarly, Baliyan and Nenty (2015) recorded the picture of a poor and declining enrollment trend in agriculture in senior secondary schools in Botswana as a major concern for agricultural educators across the country. Meanwhile Akintonde et al., (2019) identified factors such as low farm income, societal views of the practice, value of agriculture and the government attitude towards improving agricultural production. These revelations are not very different from the situation in Ghana and we see low enrolments in Agricultural science departments in our senior high schools.
Consequently, the attitude of secondary students in learning agricultural science is expected to seek ways to achieve the objectives of agricultural science at the senior high school level. These and other factors could be accounting for the low enrolment in Agricultural Science course in many second cycle institutions across the country.
However, there are strong indications to suggest that youth participation especially students in agriculture sector is very low because it is unattractive. Young people often regard agriculture (farming) as a dirty activity without proper facilities.
Limited studies have been conducted to ascertain the perceptions of second cycle students towards the study of Agriculture in Ghanaian senior high schools (Bronyah, 2016;Konadu, 2016). Hence, there is the need to investigate the perception and challenges of students towards the learning of Agricultural Science at public Senior High School in the Berekum East Municipal of Bono Region in Ghana.
The study was guided by the following research questions;

1.
What are the perceptions of students towards the learning of Agricultural Science in the public Senior High Schools in the Berekum East Municipal?

2.
What challenges do students in the public Senior High Schools in the Berekum East Municipal encounter in the learning of Agriculture?

Literature Review
Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil, growing crops and rearing animals. Agriculture provides most of the world's food and fabrics and is taught as a course at various institutions. It is a practical subject and must therefore be learnt through practical or handson activity (pedagogy) which will give students full engagement in their learning process. Menka and Atteh, (2022) believe that, after students receive instructions, they must have the flexibility to independently acquire new skills and knowledge from the learning encountered. This implies that the different learning style and abilities of the learners should be catered for by teachers who should employ a learner centered approach. The use of learner centred approaches has the potential of arousing the interest of learners in any course of study (Bingan, Amenu, Agbeko & Kwarteng, 2022) and hence may positively influence their perception towards the subject they are learning, of which Agriculture is not an exception. Again, this suggests that, the learning of Agriculture should be grounded in the constructivist theory (Jaiswal, 2019) which maintain that, human learning is constructed and that learners build new knowledge upon the foundation of previous learning (McLeod, 2019). Constructivists are of the view that students learn by building new concepts on the foundation of prior knowledge and also accept that, each learner possesses a distinct set of mental abilities which they apply to make sense of every event and circumstance. This implies that, every learner is unique in their own way of learning and how they perceive the world and process information. This also suggests that learners' perception can have a very high impact on their learning of Agriculture since their learning of the subject is built on prior knowledge. Duncan (2004) found that the agricultural technology programme and curriculum contributes to a student's success in the agricultural industry and that the programme offers a valuable education for students. This was accepted by Edozien (2002) who postulated that Ghana's future lies in the participation of youths in agriculture. Agricultural technology in Ghana seems to be undermined and is not given much attention as eulogized here by literature. However, this should create a necessity for much effort to be channeled to helping individuals or students develop positive perception towards the learning of Agriculture and how to improve Agricultural technology in the country. Ojimba et al. (2018) recommended that students could perform better in agricultural science if they could have a positive attitude towards and show interest in the subject amidst other things. Reference to theory of attitude formation and change as cited by Baliyan and Nenty (2015), it remarked that some indicators significantly affect students' attitude. These are parents, students, personal experiences, observations, knowledge, and value which consequently influence their belief, intentions and decision to participate actively in agricultural practices. It is therefore important for parents, and other individuals to appreciate agriculture and help children inculcate positive attitudes towards it and its learning. The perception of learners towards learning of any course has the tendency to affect them as a basic need for human learning.
Schools can play a big role in shaping the perceptions of youth towards agriculture. Teachers could instill a more positive perception in their learners towards Agriculture by explaining to them the many aspects of agriculture, its importance to everyday life and the career opportunities in it. Studies by Van der Guest (2010) and FAO (2010) revealed that the youth earn a relatively higher income from their agricultural activities than the elderly. Again, the teachers should encourage them by providing the enabling environment for effective teaching and learning of both the practical and the theoretical aspect of the subject in schools. Olorunfemi et al. (2016) carried out a study on students' attitude towards agricultural science, and found that as there was an increase in the educational level of the agricultural professionals, it directly increases their likelihood to having a positive attitude towards their wards taking agriculture as a career. As matter of fact, majority of the respondents who have higher levels of education will most likely be senior and successful professionals in the agricultural profession hence it gave them the leverage and required motivation to be able to confidently mentor their children/wards to take after their chosen career.
Parents' background (education inclusive) plays significant role in determining the agricultural career of children (Adejoh et al., 2016). The study was an effort to address the deficiency in curricular objective of agricultural science in the area of skills development and preparation for occupations in agriculture among secondary school students. Their finding showed that parents also influence students' attitude towards agricultural science subject in secondary schools. This will significantly have an influence of the perception of the learners towards the study of the course because parents contribute to making decision of choices of courses of their wards. Ngogo (2014) explained that the level of education of the parents may have direct or indirect influence on the attitude of children because socialization begins at home before they move to other company for socialization outside. He therefore submitted that a high level of education usually allows an individual to be able to get information on the educational and career implication of the school curriculum. Education helps in the acquisition of skills from different spheres of knowledge that may help parents to transfer to their children for the daily living. Williams and Lindsey (2015) suggested that creation of workshops and training courses for youth is an essential effort to address youth participation in Agriculture and improve Agricultural education. Obviously, when young people are exposed to the importance of Agriculture through seminars, their preconceived ideas toward the course could be positively impacted and will directly create a positive perception in them towards the learning of Agricultural Science.
Several studies (Osaikhiuwu, 2014;Bizimana & Orodho, 2014Ogweno, 2015Mahmood & Gondal, 2017) suggest that, in most African schools, poor educational environment such as physical facilities, resources and teacher competency constitute factors that affect effective teaching and learning of Agricultural Science. These are indifferent from the situation in Ghana as most Ghanaian schools lack infrastructure, teaching/learning resources and even qualified teachers in the Agricultural departments. Osman, Owino, Yungungu and Ogolla (2015) asserted that there is a correlation between teaching and learning resources and students' performance. This suggests that availability of educational resources enhance learners' academic achievement (Ogweno, 2015;Mahmood & Gondal, 2017) as they influence effective teaching and learning of agriculture. Tools and infrastructure required for teaching and learning must be made available for effective learning (Otekunrin, Otekunrin & Oni, 2019).
Darko, Yuan, Opoku, Ansah, Liu & Ansah (2016b) reached that, the unavailability or inadequate funding of school gardens, field trips, educational plots, and laboratories significantly affects the practical learning of Agricultural Science. The ineffective teaching and learning of Agriculture have been caused by teachers frequently using the lecture method, lack of tools, unequipped laboratories, lack of school farms and gardens, difficulties in organizing field trips, poorly motivated teachers, and students' negative attitudes toward Agriculture are hindrances that impede the study of the course. This assertion was buttressed by Moyo and Maseko (2016) who also stated that poor teaching especially when instructional materials are not effectively used affects student learning which has great influence on students' attainments. The numerous challenges outlined by these researchers seem to pertain to Ghana and public Senior High Schools in the Berekum East municipal as well but this study is set to confirm or reject such claims.

Research Design
The study adopted descriptive survey as the research design. Descriptive survey research design was selected to enhance a detailed understanding of the problem. A descriptive survey attempts to establish the range and distribution of some social characteristics such as education or training to discover how these characteristics may be related to certain behaviour patterns or attitudes Bingan et al., (2022). This study sought to investigate the perceptions held by Senior High School students in Berekum East Municipal towards the learning of Agriculture and some challenges they face in their learning of Agricultural Science at the senior high level.

Population and Sampling
The population for this study was made up of second-year students at the public senior high schools in the Berekum East Municipality. This group satisfied the inclusion requirements for the study since they were the only ones who might not be struggling with transitional issues related to finishing or adjusting to new environmental circumstances, which may have an impact on their perceptions and challenges towards the learning of Agricultural Science.

Sample and Sampling Techniques
Three public senior high schools in the Berekum East Municipality (Methodist Senior High/Technical School, Berekum Senior High School and Berekum Presbyterian Senior High School) were used to gather the sample size for the study, totaling 315 second-year students. The researchers used the convenience sampling technique to help them choose the schools. To guarantee a fair representation of sex, the population was divided into different groups, or strata, using a stratified sample process. Respondents were then chosen at random but within a reasonable range using systematic sampling. By dividing the population size by the desired sample size, this range was calculated. It was utilized as a byproduct of random sampling since every participant needs to have an equal opportunity to take part in the study.

Data Collection
The study used questionnaire as data collection instrument. The questionnaire was distributed to respondents in their school and collected the same day. General information such as age and gender were required from the participants (part A). The part B contained statements to solicit information on the perceptions and challenges of students towards the learning of Agricultural Science in public senior high schools in the Berekum East Municipal.

Validity and Reliability of Instruments
Tavakol and Dennik (2011) defined validity as the extent to which a research instrument measures accurately a desired concept in a quantitative study. Validity is portrayed as the outcome of the research reflecting exactly what the study set out to investigate. Two aspects of the validity were considered namely, face validity and content validity. The face and content validity were established by thoroughly subjecting the questionnaire to scrutiny where grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and ambiguity were rectified to generate the best data for the study. Reliability is explained as the extent to which results are consistent over time and are accurate representation of the total population under study (Tavakol & Dennik, 2011). Joppe (2000) explained that, if the results of a study can be reproduced under a similar methodology, then the research instrument is considered to be reliable. This implies that, consistency in results provided by the same instrument administered at different times makes the data reliable. The instruments were pilot tested to eliminate any ambiguity and establish the reliability.

Treatment of Data
The data was first collated, sifted, cleaned up, then it was coded and entered into the Statistical Package and Service Solutions (SPSS) software version 25. With the aid of the software, descriptive statistics (Frequency counts, Percentages, Means and Standard Deviations) was used to analyze the data.

Ethical Considerations
Polit and Beck (2008) explain research ethics as a system of moral values that are concerned with degree to which procedures follow professional, legal, and sociological obligations of the study participants. Participants were made to be aware that their responses were purposely for scholarly work and would not be used for anything else without their permission. The names of participants were not taken on the questionnaire.
This was to make them anonymous. Permission and validating of transcripts by participants were all strictly adhered to.

Research Question 1: What are the Perceptions of Students Towards the Learning of Agricultural Science in the Public Senior High Schools in the Berekum East Municipal?
A 4-point Likert scale was used which pegs the average/fair score at 2.5. The determination of the level of perception of SHS students towards the learning of Agricultural Science was done using mean and standard deviation such that a mean<2.50 indicated low perception, 2.50≤mean<3.50 indicated fair perception, and mean≥3.50 indicated good perception. The general level of perception of SHS students towards the learning of Agricultural Science is shown in Table 2. The results from table 2 indicate that, the students either fairly or highly accepted the various statements in connection with their perception towards the study of Agriculture at SHS. They feel that Agriculture is a difficult course which is reserved for very brilliant students. This perception was supported by Williams and Lindsey (2015) who agreed that most students perceive Agricultural Science to be a difficult course of study. They therefore suggested that, creation of workshops and training courses for youth is essential efforts to address youth participation in Agriculture and can improve Agricultural education. This suggestion could help guide students before they choose to undertake courses in Agriculture. When students are well guided, it will help diffuse the perception that Agriculture is difficult and reserved for very brilliant people. Ngesa (2006) also agrees that, the importance of Agriculture can be realized if students have positive perceptions of the subject. Few students are willing to take up Agriculture careers because of the formed attitude and perception towards the subject.
Again, the students feel that the carrier paths in Agriculture are limited. Kenya Institute of Education (2006) supported this finding by realizing that, to promote interest in Agriculture as an industry and create awareness of opportunities existing in Agriculture and its related fields, it is extremely important to offer students carrier counseling before they take up Agricultural courses. Carrier counseling does not exist in most Ghanaian senior high schools to expose students to carrier opportunities after taking up a particular course of study.
Most of the students also believe that the Agricultural department is not well resourced. This finding is supported by Mahmood & Gondal (2017) who found that, in most African schools, poor educational environment such as physical facilities, resources and teacher competency constitute factors that affect effective teaching and learning of Agricultural Science. Most senior high schools in Ghana have no agricultural laboratories, resource and research centres as well as required tools and equipment for agricultural practical.

Research Question 2: What Challenges Do Students in the Public Senior High Schools
Encounter in the Learning of Agriculture?
The extent of challenges was rated such that a mean<2.50 indicated rarely have, 2.50≤mean<3.50 indicated moderately have, and mean≥3.50 indicated frequently have. The results on the challenges students face in their learning of Agricultural Science are presented in Table 3. Another challenge accepted by the students is that most schools have no school farms or gardens where practical work can be conducted. This is supported by Darko, Yuan, Opoku, Ansah, Liu & Ansah (2016b) who reached that, the unavailability or inadequate funding of school gardens, field trips, educational plots, and laboratories significantly affect the practical learning of Agricultural Science. They also added that ineffective teaching and learning of Agriculture has been caused by teachers frequently using the lecture method, lack of tools, unequipped laboratories, lack of school farms and gardens.
The students however, do not see the unavailability of textbooks and other learning materials as a big challenge to them. This finding is in contrast with the findings of Osman, Owino, Yungungu and Ogolla (2015) who reached that, there is a correlation between teaching and learning resources and students' performance. This suggests that availability of educational resources such as textbooks do enhance high learner academic achievements as they are needed to influence effective teaching and learning of agriculture.

Conclusions
The study concludes that, most students have the perception that, Agriculture is a difficult course which is reserved for very brilliant students which scare most of them from choosing Agriculture as a course at the Senior High level and higher institutions. Also, most of the students believe that the Agricultural departments in most senior high schools are not well resourced. This perception keeps them away from choosing to study Agricultural science. Again, the students keep the perception that, the carrier paths in Agriculture are limited. The study further concluded that, students studying Agricultural science in public SHS in Berekum East Municipal encounter several challenges. The identified challenges include; lack of Agricultural resource centres for Agricultural Science students to do research. Schools have no agricultural laboratories for agricultural practical. Another challenge accepted by the students is that most schools have no school farms or gardens where practical work can be conducted.

Recommendations
The study therefore recommends that, career counsellors, teachers and officers in the Agricultural sector should always guide students as to the career opportunities in study agriculture to the highest level. The guidance and counselling should also be geared towards defusing the perception that Agriculture is a difficult course and should studied by very brilliant students. Again, it is recommended that, all Agricultural Departments in Senior High schools and tertiary institutions should be provided well-furnished resource and research centres for students to undertake practical and research in Agriculture. Also, every Senior High school offering Agriculture as a course should have a school farm or garden where students can undertake practical work.