EFFECTS OF PARENTAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS ON THE LEARNING PERFORMANCE OF PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper examined the effect of parental Socio economic characteristics on pupils’ academic performance in pre-primary schools in Abuja, Nigeria. It's main focus here, is on Parental Income. One research question was raised while one null hypothesis was formulated and tested to guide the study. This study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The study used a sample of 250 out of 400 pre-primary schools in Abuja, which was more than half of the population. The data for the study were gathered through copies of the questionnaire that were administered to 250 respondents. The method of selection was through simple random sampling technique. The questionnaire tagged “Parental Income Background Questionnaire” (PIBQ) was pilot tested and reliability co-efficient of 0.81 was obtained. Furthermore, mean, frequency, standard deviation and percentage was used to answer the research question while Pearson’s product-moment correlation co-efficient was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 significance level. The study revealed that there was a significant relationship between parental income background and pupils’ academic performance in pre-primary schools in Abuja. The finding of this study have led the researcher to conclude that parental income background influenced pupils’ academic performance in pre-primary schools in Abuja, Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that, parents as a matter of importance should diversify their sources of income so that they can be able to provide fund their children in school for better academic performance.