Learning is a product not only for formal schooling, but also families, countries and peers,

social, economic and cultural forces affect learning and thus school achievement (Rothstein,
2000).

Academic performance is undoubtedly a research drive at the heart of educators, teachers,

psychologists, policy makers, parents and guardians, social workers etc. in their attempts to
investigate what determines academic outcomes of learners, they have come up with more
questions than answers. In recent, prior literature has shown that learning outcomes (academic
achievement and academic performance) have been determined by such variables as family,
schools, society and motivational factors.(Aremu and Jokan 2003).National governments have
tried to invest heavily in education in order to improve accessibility and quality of education both
the secondary and primary schools. They have however not taken university education as a
priority. The upper secondary education however has received little attention by governments
and donor agencies a factor that could have contributed to the poor academic performance in
secondary schools. The quality of education at primary section depends on the quality of
teachers and their competence, their capacity the teaching and learning process and is widely
recognized that the quality of teachers and teaching lies at the heart of all schooling systems
intending to offer quality education.

Masha, (2004), observed that the teaching force is the foundation of quality education at all
levels of education. Secondary schools are managed and operated by government, the
foundation bodies and the local community initiatives. All these culminate into inefficiencies that
are manifested in terms of teacher deployment, repetitions, school drop-outs, repetitions,
juvenile delinquency among other challenges.

Several scholars have earmarked several factors that affect student academic achievement in
Secondary education level. A great deal of research on the determinants on school
achievement has mainly centered on relative effects of home and school related factors such as
family background ; a factor that is important determinant of school outcomes, where a school is
seen to have minimal effects (Brooks-Gunn &Duncan, 1977).

It has been observed that the falling academic standards and the influencing factors include the
socio-economic background of the parent. Owing to the present economic situation in the
country, many poor parents are forced by circumstances to saddle the young ones with chores
like hawking wares, clearing the house and doing other menial jobs around the house before
going to school and after school hours. Domestic chores like these no doubt help to train the
children and make them realize that they can and should contribute their own quota to the
general upkeep of the family. However, when parents and guardians burden their children with
work excessively, leaving little or no study time for their children, their school work is bound to
suffer (Akanle 2007).

Danesty and Otediran (2002) lamented that street hawking among the young pupils has
psychologically imposed other problems like sex networking behavior, juvenile delinquent
behavior, which takes the pupil school time that necessitated the poor academic performance
and drop out syndrome noticed among the young school pupils. Nevertheless they also
lamented that the maternal and paternal deprivation of the essential needs of the young pupils
have prompted their poor academic performance in public examinations such as Junior
Secondary School Certificate (JSSC), West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National
Examination Council (NECO).
School sector (public or private) and class size are two important structural components of
schools which the socio-economic background of the parent would determine the one they
could afford. Private schools tend to have both better funding and smaller class sizes than
public schools. The additional funding of private schools leads to better academic performance
and more access to resources such as computer which have shown to enhance academic
achievement (Eamon 2005). Smaller class sizes create more inmate settings and therefore can
increase teacher pupil bonding which has also been shown to have a positive effect on pupils’
success.

Pupils from low economic background who attend poorly funded schools do not perform as well
as pupils from higher economic classes (Eamon 2005). This trend is posing huge problems to
parents, government, political parties and stakeholders in education.

In most African countries and Western world, socio-economic background of the family is
usually linked to the family’s income, parents’ educational level, parents’ occupation and social
status among the kith and kin at the global level. Ford and Harris (1997) followed this logic while
examining parental influences on African American pupils’ school environment by focusing on
specific socio-demographic factors, including parents’ level of education, marital status and
family income.

It is generally believed that children from high and middle socio-economic background parents
are better exposed to a learning environment at the home because of provision and availability
of extra learning facilities.

Low socio- economic background children are often left home to fend for themselves and their
young siblings, while their caregivers work long hours; compared with their well off peers, they
spend less time playing outdoors and more time watching television and are less likely to
participate in after school activities (US Census Bureau, 2000). Unfortunately children would not
get the model for how to develop proper emotions or respond appropriately to others from
watching cartons; they need warm, person-to-person interactions. The failure to form positive
relationships with peers inflicts long term socio-emotional consequences.

Previous studies have established that other factors in spite of socio-economic background can
boost academic success among pupils. Studies which examined African American parents who
maintained positive views about the value of education and who hold high academic
expectations have children who often experience higher levels of academic achievement (Ford
and Harris, 1997).

Children coming from poverty environment are not provided the same tools as the wealthy; they
are entering schools already behind those not living in similar conditions. According to Li-Grining
(2007), research suggests that the problem starts with the parents and their lack of education
and understanding of the needs of children. Many individuals who might have done this nation
proud in different fields have been forced into uninspired careers due to unavailability of finance
resources. Such individuals are forced out of school and made to engage in hawking, selling
packaged drinking water and the like so as to save money for their school expenses. Most of
the time, they cannot afford instructional materials, and are always at the mercy of examiners
during the examination period. The persistence of this in life of an individual pupil may spell
doom for his academic success.

Learning as a process is determined is determined by factors such as readiness and

commitment of both the facilitator and the learner and if one of them loses his/her focus,
automatically the whole process is distorted. Learning is a product of not only formal schooling,
but also of families, communities, and peers, social, economic, and cultural forces affect
learning and thus school achievement (Rothstein, 2000). Various studies show that both home
and school environment have a big influence on the performance of children especially at the
primary school level (Carron & Chau,1996; Griffin, 1999; Mancebon & Molinero,2000). In
addition to influences related to home and school factors, academic performance is also related
to students pre-existing human capital which includes their unique way of interacting with each
type of education institution such as school, family, community, peer group, the economy and
the culture.(Rothstein,2000). Individual characteristics such as attitude and perceptions towards
school environment, involvement in class activity and the level of motivation have also been
found to have a paramount impact on academic achievement (Connoly, et al,1998; Veenstra
and Kuyper,2004). This shows amalgamation of different factors on a child’s academic
performance that need to be taken care of by all the stakeholders for good academic
achievement.

According to Abagi (2007) the indicators of academic performance in education include good
examination results, possible exhibition of knowledge, skills and attitudes. There’re several
factors that affect performance in primary schools such as poverty levels, parents’ level of
income, parents’ level of education, household’s chores and child labor and family structure and
stability.

There are studies that give evidence that parents occupation level relates to educational
achievement of the child. A study conducted on 400 Aberdeen school children aged between
12.5 and 13.5 years old found out that the father’s occupation to be significantly related to the
child’s success (Fraser, 1959). The study revealed that children of parents of high income
occupation are most advantaged over those of parents of low income occupations. Cullen
(1969) found that parents’ occupation indirectly reflects their intellectual ability which is inherited
by the child.

In a study conducted in 6 sub counties of Kenya, it was noted that patterns of failing or dropping
in the KCPE standards, closely followed variations in economic development of each study area
site (Bali, 1970). Initial academic skills are correlated with the home environments and chronic
stress negatively affects a child’s pre-academic skills and thus poor academic progress and
hence failing examinations. This is in agreement with researchers such as Hara and Burke,
1998; Hill & Craft, 2003; Marcon, 1999; Stevenson & Baker, 1987), who assert that parents’
involvement in a child’s early education is consistently found to be associated positively with a
child’s academic performance. Therefore it is believed with little doubt that children whose
parents are actively involved perform better than children whose parents are less involved. The
effect of parent participation on academic success has been emphasized by researchers as well
as policy makers who have integrated efforts to increase parent involvement into broader
educational policy initiatives coupled with such findings of the importance of eraly academic
success, a child’s academic success has been found to be relatively stable (Entwisele &
Hayduk,1988; Pederson, Faucher & Eaton, 1978).

According to UNICEF (2004), children of educated parents are much likely to go to school and
the more schooling the parents have received the more probable it is that they would benefit
their children. The proposal said that if educated girls became mothers they are more likely to
send their children to school thereby passing on and multiplying benefits for themselves and
society in a positive integrated manner.

Some factors responsible for poor academic performance are internal such as a learning
disability that can be an obstacle to attain a certain academic achievement. Also a student may
have a full potential of getting high grades but may simply not care about hard work or not care
about education leading to low academic achievement.
Teachers have been found to have a profound effect on students’ academic performance for
instance when a teacher has little interest or lacks experience in teaching, he will lack the
required competence to create effective teaching-learning process thus low academic
achievement.

School environment is an important contributing factor to poor academic performance. This

entails issues like school culture that promotes hard work, school funding to enable hiring of
qualified teachers, putting up school infrastructure. Poor infrastructure and congested
classrooms are negative factors to academic progress. Schools that cannot afford to buy the
required equipment and facilities end up offering less than the desired quality of education.

Family related factors are important to consider while tackling academic performance of the
learners. The extent of the parent care and involvement contribute greatly towards the academic
progress of the learner. Poverty ridden families tend to produce children whose academic focus
is low. These children at times lack role models from whom to derive courage and inspiration.
Parents do not have adequate skill to guide their children and this leads to low achievement in
learning.

Lack of proper teaching materials, poor teaching methods, lack of evaluation instruments
especially those used for international purposes creates a gap between learning achievement
and what is required by society.