Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether violation of students’ legal rights has relationship with organizational climate in secondary schools in Imo State, Nigeria. Three research questions and null hypothesis were put forward and tested in order to make one’s decisions on the issues investigated. Relevant literature to the study was adequately reviewed. The study was carried out in the three educational zones of Imo state. The population of the study comprised 98,878 teachers and students in Imo State secondary schools from which 1,218 students and 125 teachers were sampled and used as respondents. In collecting the data for this work, two instruments namely “Students’ Legal Rights Questionnaire” (SLRQ) and “Secondary School Organizational Climate Questionnaire” (SESOCQ) were utilized. The data generated were analyzed with mean, one-tailed t-test and two tailed z-test. It was discovered that violation of students’ legal rights is very high in Imo State and this has relationship with the closed organizational climate which dominated secondary schools in Imo State. Therefore, violation of students’ legal rights has relationship with organizational climate in Imo State secondary schools. Based on this finding, the researchers recommended that workshops and seminars on violation of students’ legal rights be organized for principals, teachers and students in Imo State as a means of reducing this ugly incident in our secondary schools.