Level of parental education and pupils’ academic performance in selected primary schools in Juba City, South Sudan. A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background:

The level of education has a strong influence on pupils’ academic performance, shaping their understanding, skills, and learning outcomes. This study aims to determine the relationship between the level of education and pupils’ academic performance in selected primary schools in Juba City, South Sudan.

 Methodology:

A Stratified random sampling technique was used to select eight schools of the fifteen Schools in the city.  Data was collected through three sets of questionnaires for Pupils, teachers, and head teachers. Correlation and regression analysis were used to establish the significance and relationship between the variables of the study.

 Results:

66 respondents participated in this study, 38.3% of the parents had secondary education as the highest level of education, 33.3% had attained up to primary education, and 18.3% had no formal education, while 10.1% had college-level education. 22.4% of the students scored a C+ grade, 12.3% had a C-, 15.7% had a C plain, 4.4% had a B-, 35.2% had a D+, and 5.6% had a B plain. This implies that the majority of the students scored average grades. Parental educational level showed 66% of the variation in pupils' academic performance (R2 = .660). Parental education level had a strong positive influence on pupils' academic performance with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.812 and a significant value of 0.000, which is less than 0.025, the critical value at the 5% level of significance.

 Conclusion:

The study found that the performance of the pupils was higher for those pupils with parents in formal occupations than for those with parents in informal occupations.

Recommendation:

The county needs to put in place appropriate systems to enhance parental education, like adult education, so the parents can be equipped with basic formal education.