Influence of School Location on Performance of Students in Business Studies in Junior Secondary Schools in Jigawa State

This study investigated the influence of school location, rural versus urban, on students performance in Business Studies in junior secondary schools in Jigawa State, North West Nigeria. The rural-urban educational divide is a persistent feature of the Nigerian schooling landscape, with urban schools typically benefiting from better infrastructure, more qualified teachers, and greater access to learning resources. In Jigawa State, where a large proportion of schools are in rural communities, understanding how school location shapes Business Studies outcomes is critical for evidence-based policy. A causal-comparative research design was adopted. The population comprised 2,400 JSS3 Business Studies students in rural and urban public junior secondary schools across three local government areas in Jigawa State. A sample of 480 students, evenly distributed between rural and urban schools, was selected through stratified random sampling. A validated Business Studies Achievement Test was used for data collection. Independent samples t-test was employed to test the null hypothesis at a 0.05 significance level. Findings reveal a significant performance gap favoring urban students. Urban school students scored higher on all cognitive levels of the test, with teacher qualification and availability of teaching materials identified as key mediating factors. The study recommends targeted resource allocation, teacher deployment incentives, and community engagement programmes to bridge the rural-urban performance gap in Business Studies across Jigawa State. Keywords: school location, business studies, junior secondary school, academic performance, Jigawa State