Relationship between parents’ socio-economic status and academic performance of secondary school students in Sironko town council

Abstract

The study focused on establishing the relationship between parents’ socio-economic status on academic performance of secondary school students in Sironko town council. The study was guided by three specific objectives and these included; establishing the extent to which parents’ educational level relates with the academic performance of their children; determining the extent to which parents’ income level relates with the academic performance of their children and examining the extent to which parents’ social status relates with the academic performance of their children. The study was basically based on cross sectional survey that employed quantitative approach. The total population under study was 3545 and a sample of 341 was used. Data was collected through questionnaires. The data collected was analyzed using frequencies and percentages (univariate statistics), cross tabulation and Pearson correlation co-efficient (bivariate statistics). The study found a positive but insignificant correlation between parents’ socioeconomic status and the academic performance of their children. Findings showed that the extent to which parents’ level of education relates with the academic performance of their children was minimal (r = 0.055, sig= 0.389>0.05); and also, the extent to which parents’ income status relates with the academic performance of their children was not statistically significant (r=0.038, sig=0.553>0.05) and finally, the extent to which parents’ social status relates with the academic performance of their children was not statistically significant (r= 0.0140, sig=0.828>0.05). In conclusion, the extent to which parents’ socio-economic status relates with the academic performance of their children in Sironko town council was low. Therefore the researcher concluded that the parents’ educational status, income and social status should not be solely attributed to the academic failure of students in Sironko town council, Uganda.