CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Primary education is the most basic formal

education and is valued very highly for
preparing learners for secondary education,
world of work. Scientific and technical
application of knowledge and Life skills.
However attaining primary education is not
natural. It is influenced by many imbalances
including parents social and economic
experiences (socio-economic status) and
disparities in education standards throughout
Uganda. Socioeconomic status depends on a
combination of variables, including occupation,
education, income, wealth, and place of
residence. Sociologists often use
socioeconomic status as a means of predicting
behavior.

([Link]/topic/socioeconomic-
status)

The educational attainment of the pupils in

Masafu Sub County primary schools is similar
to many upcountry schools in Uganda with a
high enrolment that out number available
resources and more pupils passing in lower
Grades of III and IV. In Uganda there were
121,390 (71.8%) pupils in Grade III and more
other 67.301 (85.6%) in Grade IV in 20012
([Link]/D/1/10/7). A candidate is
deemed to have completed primary school if
one obtains a divisional grade of I to IV pass in
primary leaving
examinations. Such pupils are eligible to
register for any post primary education.
Attaining Low grades (grade III and IV) should
be the educational equivalent of illiteracy and a
mark of different prospect to growing up where,
parents have low occupations and low income,
and whose own experience of school may
have been a negative one. That is a bad start
in life. Disagreements followed release of PLE
results in 2012. Due to publicoutcry and
repeated requests for a correction from the
parents, the ministry and district education
officers in Uganda were still confused over
reasons for the poor performance of the
majority often from the most disadvantaged
communities.

The research was informed by three related

theories. These are: The theory of cultural
capital by Pierre Boudieu, (1986) who stated
that education leads to social reproduction and
a stratified society by honoring the cultural
capital of the elite classes. The theory of
concerted cultivation by Annet Lareune, (2003)
which stated that lower income families have
children who do not succeed to the level of the
middle income children. The theory of
credentialism by Collins Randall 1979, which
stated that public schools are socializing
institutions that teach and reward middle class
values of competition and achievement. These
theories were used by the researcher as a set
of tools to construct explanations of what is
happening in schools in Masafu Sub County
Busia District.

Masafu Sub County is one of the largest Sub

counties in Busia District. The pupils obtained
poor grades in 2008 and
2009 PLE examinations. Neighboring schools
like Mama Junior, super standard and Victory
border point primary which were recently
established have fewer pupils and better
infrastructure such as electricity and boarding
facilities and they performed relatively better in
primary leaving examinations. Uganda
Government is however committed to
education for all her citizen as manifested in a
range of publications: The 1995 Constitution of
the Republic of Uganda, the 1996 Universal
Primary Education (UPE) policy, and the
Education Act 2008. The introduction of UPE in
Uganda resulted in the creation of three
parallel categories of schools (Kabahenda,
2009), namely "Unlimited Opportunity" schools,
UPE schools in urban

2centers and 'no-chance schools. Unlimited

opportunity schools are private primary schools
that charge an exorbitant amount of fees and
which cater for the children of the country's top
political, bureaucratic and entrepreneurial elite.
Pupils from these schools tend to frequent
secondary schools in Kenya and South Africa
in preparation for universities in Europe and
North America. A select few find jobs in
Western countries like Canada which offers
them work permits, while some return to swell
the ranks of an exclusive group of executives
both in the government and the private sector.
The second category is UPE schools located in
urban centers. The majority of pupils in these
schools tend to be children of upper and
middle-level government civil servants and
employees of the private sector. Their parents
are well-educated and ensure that their
children get extra help at home or during
holidays in
order to compensate for the poor quality of
education at school. The students from these
schools normally pass fairly well and tend to
populate government aided-secondary schools
in urban areas. Their chance of accessing
universities is relatively high. These constitute
the cadre of future civil servants. The third
category is what should be called "No Chance"
schools. The majority of these are located in
rural areas. However, every child is entitled to
an education of an acceptable standard but,
until we iron out inequalities in society more
generally, that is unlikely to happen. Therefore
where parents have chosen to place their
children has important implications on the
pupils' educational attainment. This report is
organized in five chapters. The first chapter is
the background of the study. This is followed by
the literature review section that explores
research findings of similar studies. Chapter
three encompasses the methodology adopted
while the presentation and analysis of data is
found in chapter four.

3The researcher finally drew some discussion,

conclusions and recommendations in chapter
five.
1.2 Statement of the problem

The introduction of UPE has helped to get

many children to school since 1997 but there
are still concerns about the outcomes of the
children in these schools. A look at the
performance of primary schools in Masafu Sub
County from 2010 to 2012 indicates that just
one to three pupils pass in first grade out of
hundreds of PLE candidates every year.
And for a long time, Busia district where
Masafu Sub County is found has never
reached 3% pass in Div one. (Kirewa Youth
Development Initiative, 2004). Not all children
in Ugandan schools manage to complete
primary school cycle and mostly those who
complete it attain poor primary leaving
examination (PLE) grades. The worry is that
pupils obtain poor results, dropout before
becoming literate in English or cannot join
world class schools that set high fees and high
cut off points, yet education is the key element
for any one wanting to improve on their poor
plight. move towards a better future and get a
better job. Poor performance and illiteracy is
generally associated with unemployment, low
earning, poor health and persistent poverty.
More so, poor performance and illiteracy is a
formidable obstacle to development. Providing
education for all through attempts such as free
schooling, paying salary of teachers and
expansion of classrooms has not ended poor
performance and school drop outs. Many
children are excluded from an education
because of poverty, conflict, their special
needs, their gender etc ([Link].).
Other challenges to making sure all children
receive a quality education are: high numbers
of pupils in the classroom and insufficient
furniture, which makes it very

4difficult for the teacher to cater for all students

abilities. Costs associated with education. e.g.
school fees and school uniforms, personal text
books, costs for teaching materials etc.
inadequate water and sanitation supply at the
school,
need to work or help out at home, e.g. looking
after ill family members, and helping out on
market days. Considering the analysis of UPE
in Uganda by Kabagambe 2009, it could be
that low socio-economic status of parents of
children in Masafu Sub County is a factor
contributing to such poor achievement levels.
But there are no studies to indicate how socio
economic status has influenced educational
attainment of pupils in this area. The particular
challenges are how to raise performance
standards, and avoid drop but of pupils before
completing primary school to an acceptable
standard. This phenomenon is disturbing in the
context of the current education policy as it
partly reflects its ineffectiveness. As such the
researcher felt the need to undertake research
on Socio-economic activities and pupils
performance.

13

Purbose of the study

The general objective of the study was to

analyse the parents' socioeconomic status and
pupils' academic performance.
14

Obiectives of the study

This study was guided by the following specific

objectives:
1) To determine the relationship between
parents' educational level arid pupils' academic
performance in Masafu Sub County Busia
District.

2) To establish the relationship between

parents income and pupils' academic
performance in Masafu Sub County Busia
District.

S3) To establish the relationship between

parents occupation and pupils' academic
performance in Masafu Sub County Busia
District

14 Research questions

This study was guided by the following

research questions:

1) What is the relationship between parent's

educational level and pupils performance in
Masafu Sub County Busia District?

2) What is the relationship between parents'

income and pupils' academic performance in
Masafu Sub County Busia District?

3) What is the relationship between parents'

occupation and pupils performance in Masafu
Sub County Busia District?

106

15 Scope of the study

The study was carried out in Masafu Sub
County Busia District; it focused on the
differences in Parental education, Income, and
occupations of the primary leaving examination
candidates that affect enrolment numbers and
performance grades in examinations.

Significance of the study.

The information in this research can avail

various stakeholders e.g. Head teachers,
school management committee, parents and
teachers associations and foundation bodies
with a basis for efficient school management
and administration: The head teachers are
usually involved in the school activities:

The findings in this study will encourage the

parents and school administrators will behave
in an acceptable manner and looking after the
welfare of the pupils. They keep theexisting
money making projects running and starting
new ones in the school and ensure that money
and other resources in the school are correctly
used.

The study will help the head teachers to

understand parents' socioeconomic status and
plan better. Each primary school has a
Management Committee.

Through better insight of socioeconomic-issues

affecting
pupils' educational attainment the management
committee will lobby for legal body responsible
for managing a primary school.

The money raised by such activities is intended

to build classrooms, buy new desks, build
teachers' houses and do a number of other
things for the good of the school. These two
purposes of the PTA exist because the grant
from the government and the school fees are
not enough to run and develop the school.

Parents, together with the teachers as well as

the pupils, should initiate and run money-
generating projects. This highlights the
important role parents play in the running of
primary schools.

This research will support nationally-significant

reforms which aim to lift the standard of
education received by [Link] TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction
This chapter is composed of related literature
for different authors. In conducting this review,
the following study variables were of utmost
importance: parent's education, income and
occupation; and the education activities such
Enrolment, attendance, dropout, repetition and
pupil's performance.
2.1 Parents' level of education and pupil's
educational performance

Pupils with families where parents have less

education tend to systematically perform worse
than pupils whose parents have more
education.

According to Nannyonjo (2007) pupils with

parents who did not finish primary or just
finished primary, pupils with parents who
finished senior four or senior 6 or university
performed considerably better. The highest
increase in test scores was for pupils whose
fathers had a university degree. Compared to
earlier research, for example by Hanushek,
found mother's education has a significant
effect on pupils test scores. Fathers' education
had a stronger influence than mothers. Those
results possibly reflect the ability of parents to
support the pupils' school work, and likely
interactions of literate parents with their
children in school related or literacy nurturing
activities as well as their ability to support their
children with home work or help with difficult
home work questions.
Similarly Okumu, et al (2008) in a study of
Socioeconomic Determinants of Primary
School Dropout found that High academic
attainment of a mother and father significantly
reduces chances of primary school drop out for
both boys and girls in rural and urban areas.
For a mother, this phenomenon could be
attributed to the fact that educated
10mothers reduce the time spend doing
household chores while increasing the time
spend with their children than their uneducated
counterparts. Also educated mothers are more
effective in helping their children in academic
work. In doing so, they are also able to monitor
and supervise their children's academic
progress. While for fathers it's attributef to the
fact that educated fathers are also interested in
their children thus they would be willing to
spend more time in helping their children in
academic problems. Educated fathers are as
well aware of the possible returns to their
children and they are more likely to have
access to information and social networks
necessary for their children to engage into
relatively human capital intensive activities
yielding high returns to education.

2.2 Parent' income and pupil's educational

performance

One of the most dramatic changes in education

over the last decade has been the
"massification" of primary education. However
there is still poor performance among the poor.
According to Kakuru (2001), Kasente, (2003),
UPE decisions still get taken that deny some
boys and girls of school going age from getting
access to primary school education. At higher
levels most girls that access secondary
education tends to come from middle and
above wealth quintile families. The children
themselves hardly make these decisions but
rather it is their parents, guardians and
relatives.
For the children who are not enrolled in school,
there are explanations for what drives the
decision taken by their parents and guardians.
For example some studies found investment in
children to be related to household income.
Bjorkman, (2005), depicted the correlation
between district income and girls and boys
enrolment as follows: For low

11levels of income very few girls attended

education and there is a large gap between
boys and girls enrolment. The differential
treatment of children's education was
explained by the returns to education, and the
share of the children's income transferred to
his or her parents. On the other hand, the
differential treatment of girls' verses boys is
related to the fact that parents' values of child
labor where girls bear the bulk of the additional
work required at home.

Income shocks do not only affect investment in

children's education but also children's
performance. When families are constrained by
fewer resources and there are differences in
boys and girls access to resources, children's
learning is consequently affected. According to
Bjorkman, (2005), a negative income shock
has two effects on the female student's
performance: marginal girls will be withdrawn
from school than boys and the resources (food)
provided will fall more for girls than for boys. As
such only brighter girls reach grade seven. On
the other hand as girls are provided with less
resources within the household, or
alternatively, have to spend more time on
domestic work as compared to boys and this
effect causes girls to perform
worse on the test as compared to boys.

According to Alissa (2010), Children's test

scores are lowest when poverty persist across
the generations, and highest when material
advantage is long-lasting On the other hand,
while good social skills also appeared to be
linked across generations, these do not make a
significant direct contribution to the current gap
in cognitive test scores between rich and poor
children. Alisa found that the gap in attainment
between children from the poorest and richest
backgrounds grew particularly fast during the
primary school years.

12By age cleven, only around three-quarters of

children from the poorest fifth of families
reached the expected level at Key Stage 2,
compared with 97 per cent of children from the
richest fifth, according to Alisa, Poorer children
who performed well in Key Stage tests at age
seven were more likely than better-off children
to fall behind by age eleven, and poorer
children who performed badly at seven were
less likely to improve their ranking compared
with children from better-off backgrounds an
important factor behind the widening gap.
Akanle. (2007) identified Parental income in
this work to be a cogent factor upon which the
academic/vocational successes of secondary
school students lie. He found Parental income
not to be sufficient to sustain the academic and
personal social life of the student in sub rural
school areas. This to a large extent affects the
psychological balance or homeostatic balance
in the classroom, which causes low
concentration, low perception, frustration,
sickness and emotional disability in academic
performance of the students. Therefore when a
child is deprived of the essential needs he may
be found to perform poorly in his school work.
This is consistent with Bugembe et al (2005)
finding that child welfare at school is a
determinant of child retention and also
incorporates the rights of children to adequate
living standards (shelter, nutrition and
healthcare, water, and sanitation services) that
are vital for child growth and development.
Bugembe explained that in urban areas, most
poor families can hardly afford the cost of
water resulting in children from poor families
being sent on long treks in search of water,
often having to stand in long queues and
consequently being late or absent from school.

132.3 Parents' occupation and educational

performance.

Checchi, (2010) found that in Ghana some

negative correlation emerged with the
probability of enrolment and low income jobs.
In Mauritania they found that, there is also
positive association with household head
working as public employee, which is typically
associated with less volatile higher earnings.
for Uganda, the coefficients of both father and
mother education exhibited a nicely increasing
trend, suggesting an increasing pressure on
educating the offspring, especially when the
main source of income comes from 'transfer',
which helps to raise school attendance.
However one third of Ugandans classified as
unemployed were actually taking up unpaid
family jobs, thus agreeing with Okumu (2008),
finding that a large percentage of the
economically active persons are economically
unproductive; thereby vindicating the
household's dependence burden implying that
educated workers accept only high quality jobs
and possibly experience long spells of
unemployment and or migration. This
squeezes out the household's resources,
resulting into pupils in the family dropping out
of school.

Another problem is that Dr Dunne and her

colleagues, who presented their findings to the
British Educational Research Association's
annual conference, examined pupil-placement
decisions in English and Math in 44 secondary
schools and 124 primaries. Their analysis
included information on pupils' prior attainment,
gender, ethnicity and home neighborhood and
found that working-class pupils are more likely
to be placed in lower sets than middle-class
pupils who have the same test results, and
that, pupils from middle-class backgrounds
more likely to be assigned to higher sets,
irrespective of their prior attainment. The
schools said that prior attainment and
perceived ability were the main criteria on
which setting decisions were based. However,
over half the pupils with low prior attainment in
English ended up in middle or high sets.
Setting decisions were therefore clearly not
made on this basis alone. Teacher judgments
and pupil behavior influenced setting decisions
but social class was more
important. This phenomenon is present in
Uganda where pupils who wish to transfer from
a rural school to urban schools are often
placed in lower classes due to perceived low
attainment in their previous schools.

To conclude this review, there is a huge

complexity of reasons why students from low
socioeconomic status are less likely to excel in
education. These range from family and
community expectations due to possible
returns of education for the family, financial
hardship, parents ambivalent attitudes to
education, poor attendance patterns due to
need for child labor. Like wise there are also
many reasons why pupils from high
socioeconomic status excel in education.
These include ability of literate parents to
support pupils with home and school work,
monitoring and supervision of children's school
work and access to information and social
networks necessary for their children's success
in life.

Parental education on leaving school is in part

a predictor of their occupational profile.
The first job after leaving school is important
although it is not completely the only
determinant of one's occupational status.

Brockhaus (2009) found, in the course of his

investigation, that the parents of higher
academic achievers practise more
professional, administrative and clerical
occupations,
while the parents of the under-achievers
pursued relatively
more occupations such as trades; production
work and semi-skilled and unskilled
occupations. Marjoribanks (2011) maintains
that most under-achievers come from the
lower- socio-economic levels of the home-
environment and that the psychosocial
encouragement here contributes very little
towards improving the intellect. He further
found that there is a definite correlation
between academic achievement and parental
occupational status.

On the other hand, De Lint (1997) discovered

that half of the test group members are of the
opinion that their parents are not financially
capable of allowing them to study up to
standard 10 or are uncertain as to their
parents' financial capacity. The largest
percentage of pupils of the test group than of
the control group feel that their parents cannot
afford to keep them at school up to standard
10.

. The very idea that individuals may be

genetically programmed to varying degrees to
strive for, and attain, occupational success has
been considered anathema for certain
psychologists. Many assume that
organizational, structural and sociological
factors are primary determinants of
occupational success. Contrary to this
assumption several research studies
conducted over the past two decades have
suggested that genetic factors, in fact, are
involved. For example, both twin and adoption
studies have found evidence that genetic
factors make significant contributions to
variations in educational achievement
(Willerman, 2012). Even in specific subject
areas (Vandenberg, 1969; Scarr and Weinberg,
1983). One twin study indicated that the need
for achievement appeared to be genetically
influenced (Vandenberg, 1969).
From the finding of De Lint (1997) one can
obtain an idea of the socio-economic position
of the parents of the test group and the control
group. De Lint (1997) found that the parents of
the underachievers are less affluent than the
control group's parents. De Lint also found that
relatively more of the test group's fathers
practice occupations lower down on the
occupational ladder than fathers of the control
group.

According to Downie (1989) it would appear

that quite apart from the fact that the
impoverished child tends to be an under-
achiever, it would seem that his poverty causes
him to be even further behind in his schoolwork
than his low intelligence would lead one to
suppose. Downie (1989) also concludes that
poverty is more closely linked to backwardness
in schoolwork than to dullness.

Unemployment coupled with meagre wages is

the sole causes of poverty. Such factors as
poor food, little sleep and unhygienię domestic
conditions may have a deleterious effect on the
child's health which may result in a lowering of
his capacity to learn. This may rob him of a
background and general knowledge which is
accepted as self-evident by most schools
(Downie, 1989).

When a child comes from a "good" home

where the parent provides adequately for the
needs of his family and where
there is adequate opportunity for intellectual
interests, the foundations are firmly laid by the
time the child goes to school.

However, in the case of the impoverished child,

the father and mother may not, as a result of
deficient finances, have the opportunity or the
desire to stimulate the child intellectually; his
vocabulary is limited, inaccurate or wrongly
pronounced (Downie, 1989).

The emotional atmosphere in the home may

exercise a great influence on the child. If. there
is a cold care-less attitude, irregularity and
evasion of discipline, the child may display
such undesirable characteristics as dishonesty,
aggression and a lack of punctuality. The
quarrels, dissatisfaction and instability of the
home atmosphere may disturb his emotional
equilibrium and he may become demoralized.
Parental antagonism towards the school may
also have a deleterious influence on the child
in that he also adopts these attitudes in
imitation of his parents (Downie, 1989).

According to Bell (1986) a large part of a

person's intelligence can be ascribed to the
accumulation of experience and knowledge.
Development in childhood thus forms the basis
for the child later intelligence. Bell (1986)
states that it is therefore imperative that the
child must receive good and adequate food, be
protected against illness, be intellectually
stimulated and be well-adjusted.

Christiansen, (1975) supports the theory that

unfavourable
home environmental conditions may have a
deleterious effect on the child's academic
achievement. They maintain that mothers of
the low income group do not prepare their
children as competently for school because
their methods of upbringing do not include
such factors as the provision of information, the
transmission of ideas and the setting of simple
tasks that must be done independently. As a
result of home circumstances and the attitudes
of parents, the attitudes of children also differ.
Whereas children from better neighbourhoods
regard the school as a place where they can
gain knowledge, children from poor
neighbourhoods regard school as merely an
institution that they are compelled to attend
and they do not have a positive attitude
towards the learning process (Christiansen,
1975).

Telford and Swarey (1987) state that numerous

studies attempted to find a correlation between
social class and IQ. These writers state that
research has been done on aspects as
parental occupation, income and geographical
region. Statistically significant relationships
were reported in respect of each of these
variables. They found that average income is
the worst predictor of academic achievement,
with occupation of the father not much better.
The parental IQ's and level of education were
considerably better predictors. They found that
the IQ of the mother is a far better predictor
than the educational level of the parents.

Johnson (1988) states that most of the under-

achievers come from sub cultural, low socio-
economic areas of the
community. The psychosocial stimulation
present in the home and neighbourhood does
little to promote academic achievement.
Johnson (1988) declares that the most
accurate information available concerns social
background and academic achievement.

Wakefield (1984) also avers that a large

proportion of under-achievers in the public
schools come from families of low intelligence,
poor education and inferior parental
occupational status. He concludes that there is
a definite association between pupils'
academic achievement and their socio-
economic background.

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the major

methodological aspects of the study on which
interpretations, conclusions and
recommendations are based.

3.1 Research design

Using both qualitative and quantitative
paradigm the researcher used a descriptive
research design in order to obtain information
concerning the current status of socio-
economic status of parents and pupils
academic performance the distinctive nature of
Masafu Sub County Busia District, prompted
the researcher to employ a case study type of
descriptive research involving correlation
studies concerned with determining the extend
to which variations in parents level of
education, income and occupation were
associated with variations in pupils educational
attainment.

3.2 Research population

The target population included 3227 pupils,

and 67 teachers and 234 parents making a
total of 3528. Pupils were targeted because
socioeconomic status is an aggregate concept
linked to both childhood and parents' social
positions and the primary years for children are
essential for their development and transition
to secondary education. Primary school
teachers were targeted because teachers are
change agents for quality teaching and
learning. They are the custodians of knowledge
for pupils on behalf of parents.

3.3 Sample Size.

The pupil's questionnaire was prepared for all

the 60 pupils. The head teacher and nine class
teachers were interviewed. The researcher
used purposive sampling to select the class
because the primary seven levels is the final
stage of primary education examined
nationally. This sample suited the purpose of
the study.

Table 3.1: Sample size and Sampling

technique.

Category
Teachers

67

15

Pupils

3227

60

Parents

234

30

Total

3528

Population

Sample size
Sampling technique

Purposive sampling
Simple random sampling

Purposive sampling

Source: Primary data

105

3.4 Research instruments.

Data was collected using questionnaires,

interview schedule, observation and
examination of records. The researcher
designed Questionnaires and administered
them personally to the teachers.

3.4.1 Questionnaires.

The questionnaires were administered to

teachers. A semi-structured questionnaire was
constructed by the researcher showing
categories in terms of education level of
parents, their occupation, and income. The
questionnaire also sought information about
drop out of pupils, performance, and
attendance patterns. (See Appendix B)
3.4.2 Interview schedule

Unstructured interviews were conducted with a

view to investigating whether there was any
consistent differences in background and
behavior between high and low scorers
(performance) The researchers personally
interviewed
headteachers and pupils discussed with them
while recording their responses. While re-
organizing the report later, clarification was
sought on phone.

According to Borg, (1979), as quoted in

Musaazi, (2006), in the unstructured
interviews:

"... the interviewer does not employ a detailed

interview guide but has a general plan and
usually asks questions or makes comments
indented to lead the respondent toward giving
data to meet the interviewer's objectives. The
items for headteachers included questions
about parents ability to meet costs associated
school and sources of financial assistance.
Other items were language of instruction in the
school, drop out numbers, and general
information about the school.

3.4.3 Documentary analysis.

Another instrument used was use of records.

The schools kept a variety of records, for
example, student records. The students' score
in mock examinations were especially sought.
The records also provided information about
pupil's enrolment, absenteeism and dropout.
The major consideration when gathering these
information was knowing what one is looking
for and that it is available, and being careful not
to breach invasion of privacy.
3.5 Validity and reliability of the instruments.

To establish the validity of the questionnaire,

the
researcher pre-tested the instruments with a
small group of respondents during school
holidays. Later using SPSS, the reliability of
the questionnaire was determined by
Cronbach's alpha

3.6 Data analysis.

After coding and cleaning data, both qualitative

and quantitative techniques were used for data
management and analysis. Qualitatively data
was analyzed on the basis of themes so as to
obtain emerging patterns and trends from
observations, questionnaires and interview
data together with data from documentary
analysis. Clustered Column, bar, pie and
scatter charts were used to describe data.
Clustered column charts compare values
across categories. A clustered column chart
displays values in 2-D vertical rectangles. One
can use a clustered column chart type when
one has [Link] that
represent: Ranges of values (for example, item
counts) and Names that are not in any specific
order (for example, item names, geographic
names, or the names of people). The
Pearson's correlation coefficient was applied
an expert in SPSS to analyze frequencies
measured in the study. The equation for the
correlation coefficient is:

3.7 Ethical consideration.

Before data collection, the research proposal

was submitted to the head of research, institute
of distance learning and continuing students of
Kampala International University,
for an approval and independent evaluation of
issues researchers consider to be rights and
safety of the participants. The researcher then
approached the headteachers within Masafu
Sub County Busia District, introduced himself
as a student of Kampala International
University using the University Identity card
that works within Masafu Sub County and
requested for information from the selected
schools. To make the objectives of the
research clear to those who were selected to
participate, the researcher openly assured the
headteachers that the research is purely
academic. The pupils were also assured of
confidentiality of the information they would
provide. This was intended to optimize the
quality of responses and to ensure as much as
possible that the participants are treated
respectfully

CHAPTER FOUR

INTERPRETATION

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the findings of the study.

For clarity and chronology, it is arranged by the
three research questions that the study sought
to answer. In the first section. however,
background information about the respondents
is presented, because it might be pertinent in
interpreting the data that they provided. Thus,
the chapter is divided into three subsections
namely, introduction, background information
about the respondents and the research
questions that the study sought to answer.

4.1 Background Information about the

Respondents

Relevant background information about the

respondents that participated in the study
relates to their gender, jurisdiction, level of
educational attainment; and duration of
teaching service experience, since they could
influence the extent to which the respondents
are knowledgeable about the variables that
were involved in the study and the extent to
which the data that they provided can be
generalized to the population. Subsequently,
information pertaining to these variables was
elicited and the findings are summarized in
table 4.1.

Table 4.1: Distribution of respondents that

participated in the study by Gender and

PUT THAT TABLE

In accordance with table 4.1. a cross section of
stakeholders (that is, parents, 28.6%; teachers,
14.3%; and students, 57.1%) in the schools
was involved in the study. This means that the
conclusions based on the data that they
provided is trustable as plausible, since it was
generated from all the key categories of
stakeholders in the schools that were sampled.
Information was also collected in the
characteristics of the teachers that were
involved in the study. This information
pertained to the teachers' level of educational
attainment, duration of education service
experience; and the duration for which they
had stayed in the schools on whose behalf
they were responding. The findings are
summarized in Table 4.1b:

Table 4.2: Distribution of Teachers by Level of

Education and Teaching Experience
PUT THE TABLE

According to table 4.1b, it is apparent that all

the teachers that were involved in the study
were qualified teachers, since they were
certificate, diploma and or degree teachers it
also indicates that most (35% and 45%) of
them had stayed in their respective schools for
at least two years. Both these findings
reinforce the expectation that the data that they
provided is authoritative, since they were well
qualified and had stayed in their respective
schools for long enough for plausible
information on the study expected of them.
Findings &M

4.2 Research-question two: What is the

relationship between parents' income and
pupils' academic performance?

This section deals with the relationship

between parents'
income and the performance of their pupils at
school.

4.2.1 Mining as an activity in Masafu Sub

County

The researcher asked the respondents

whether mining is one of the activities in they
generate money for pupils' fees and the
respondents views were as indicated table 4.2
below.

Table 4.3: Shows mining as an income activity

in Masafu Sub County.
T
Put that table

Source: Primary data

According to table 4.2, 45 (67%) of the

respondents agreed that mining is one of the
activities practiced by parents in Masafu sub
county to generate money and only 35 (33%)
of the respondents disagreed.
The researcher interviewed different parents in
different parishes on issues concerning mining.
Oundo revealed that; "gold mining is one of the
major activities for most parents in the area
simply because it is on demand and expensive
world over". This enables most families to
educate their children.

On the same note however, since most pupils

participate in mining, the academic
performance for some pupils decrease and this
leads to early school dropouts in Masafu sub
county primary schools. This explains why
most parents
in Masafu Sub County are not highly educated.

4.2.2 Farming in Masafu Sub County

Respondents were asked whether faming is

one of the activities practiced in Masafu Sub
County and their views were as indicated in
table 4.2 below:

Table 4.4: showing farming activities in Masafu

Sub County
Put that table

Source: Primary data

According to table 4.2, 5 (17%) respondents

practice livestock farming, 6 (20%) practice
poultry, 4 (13%) plant trees and 15 (50%)
engage in rice farming.

In accordance with the above finding, majority

of the parents 50% take rice farming as their
source of income and its out of this source of
income that they earn a living and this also
enable them to pay fees for the children.
However, the researcher interviewed one of the
rice farmer Margaret Kisaakye who is a retired
civil servant. After her retirement she realized
that her farm was one of the easiest and best
ways of ensuring food security in her home.
She revealed to the researcher that; "I started
farming on a small plot and later I bought more
land to expand my farm. My farm is of great
value to me because it is not only a source of
food but also a source of income", says
Margaret, who is one of the founding members
of Sanyu
Ly'amaka Farmers Group. "We started as a
small group and we are growing big". Many of
the rural farmers around the country have not
realized that agriculture is a key tool in rural
poverty and eradication.

Findings in the.

4.3 Research question three: What is the

relationship between parents' occupation and
pupils' performance

In this section the researcher dealt with

parent's occupation and pupil's performance in

Masafu Sub County in Busia District.

4.3.1 Parents Occupation

When respondents were asked about their

occupation, their views were as indicated in

table 4.5.

Table 4.5: Parents occupation

Table 4.5, majority of the parents 20 (66%) are
peasants, 5 (17%) are civil servants and 5
(17%) are farmers.

In accordance with the above findings, most of

the parents are peasants who can not be able
to raise money for their pupils' fees and
scholastic materials hence affecting pupil's
academic performance.
This has been demonstrated that parents play
the most important role in their children's
upbringing and the development of their
personalities. According to De Lint (1987: 15)
the relationship between parent and child may
be closely linked to the image parents have of
themselves, as well as to their ability to
evaluate the child's potential objectively. He
maintains that when a child's progress is slow,
it may be regarded as a threat or insult to the
parents, or they may absolutely deny or ignore
the slow progress. Attitudes like these can
never be entirely hidden from the child and will,
of necessity, influence his school work and
many other aspects of his life. By reason of the
role played by parents, it is imperative to
determine whether, and if so to what extent,
underachievers' intellectual ability can be
ascribed to parental occupation.

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 Introduction
The main objective of this discussion is to
identify and synthesize the available evidence
about the determinants of pupils 'educational
performance that policies to secure and
improve the quality of education can be
designed.

5.1. Conclusions
5.1.1 Parents education level and pupils
educational performance.

Recent discussions about educational

attainment reviewed in chapter two and data
presentation in this study indicate that low
socio economic status is associated with
perceptions of lower educational attainment.
This is consistent with the concept of cultural
capital. Cultural capital encompasses a broad
array of linguistic competencies, manners,
preferences, and orientations." The researcher
identifies three variants of cultural capital: first,
in the embodied state incorporated in mind and
body; second, in the institutionalized state, that
is, in institutionalized forms such as
educational qualifications; and third, in the
objectified state, simply existing as cultural
goods such as books. artifacts, dictionaries,
and paintings.

Cultural capital is not the only capital accruing

to individuals. It is primarily a relational concept
and exists in conjunction with other forms of
capital. Therefore, it cannot be understood in
isolation from the other forms of capital that,
alongside cultural capital, constitute advantage
and disadvantage in society. As well as cultural
capital, these include economic, symbolic, and
social capital. Social capital is generated
through social processes between the family
and wider society and is made up of social
networks.
Economic capital is wealth either inherited or
generated from interactions between the
individual and the economy, while symbolic
capital is manifested in individual prestige
sm and personal qualities, such as authority
and charisma.

In addition to their interconnection, the

researcher envisages a process in which one
form of capital can be transformed into another.
For example, economic capital can be
converted into cultural capital, while cultural
capital can be readily translated into social
capital. Regarding parents level of education,
this study found out that the education level of
parent's influences pupils' performance
positively. This implies that an increased level
of parents' education leads to better levels of
pupils' performance. This means that the
education level of the father influences pupils
more positively in Masafu Sub county primary
schools than mother's education level. This is
consistent with Hanushek's finding that
mothers had significant effect on pupils test
scores but that father's education had a
stronger influence than mothers. majority of
pupils enrolled in Masafu Sub county primary
schools have parents whose education level
fell in the quadrant of a low socio economic
status. This would explain the poor
performance of the pupils in this school.
Because parents only completed primary
education, they can not be competent to help
pupils with their academic work. These are
parents who probably dropped out from school.

However some pupils whose parents'

education level was low still performed better
than pupils whose parents were better
educated. This is contrary to Alisa (2003), and
Okumu (2008) finding that, pupils from highly
educated families perform better because
parents encourage them to do so or
because parents read, monitors and supervise
their children's academic progress. It would
mean that pupils whose parents do not read
with them can find other people to read with or
to encourage them. So pupils whose parents
are less educated could befriend other children
whose parents are better educated to learn
from those parents. Some times the
disadvantages that low educated parents face
may be a motivation for their children to be
more attentive in class so that they perform
better in order not to face the same problems
they witness their parents are facing

In addition elder brothers or sisters or other

relatives may encourage pupils from lower
education background to work hard since
extended family is evident in most lower class
families as mentioned by Larreau, (2003). One
can also note that children whose parents have
higher education still perform poorer than those
from worse off education backgrounds. So it is
possible that these educated parents do not
have time with their children to encourage
them to do better. Pierre Bourdieu explained
school success by the amount and type of
cultural capital inherited from the family milieu
rather than measures of individual talent or
achievement. But these days the education
ministry and schools or other form of organized
learning facilitate the acquisition of knowledge,
skills and attitudes that have intrinsic value and
also help in addressing important human goals.
As such education for all is emphasized
because now education leads to global
benefits rather than benefiting individual
families.
The goals of education are another factor to
consider in determining educational attainment.
The experience of UPE head teachers seems
to be a sense of dissatisfaction with the
bureaucratic nature of the formal school
system. The schools remain passive, expecting
initiatives to come from above rather than be
self directed. Private schools are more robust
in performance in PLE because they have a
tendency to operate out side the formal school
system or independently from it.

Another factor for better educational attainment

is early child hood care and education.

Children learn most of the values early so it is

very important that children expectations for
education are emphasized early in childhood
otherwise they may fail to cope up with the rest
of pupils. For the children who are not enrolled
in school, there are explanations for what
drives the decision taken by their parents and
guardians. These include Childs safety, need
for labor, monitory costs and Childs physical
readiness. The sex of pupils has an influence
on their educational attainment. In St. Jude
primary school, boys tended to perform better
in PLE. This can be attributed to the fact that in
the evening girls join their mothers to prepare
food for the family while a boy waits or plays.
Further more, the existing social relations of
gender that structure women as providers of
reproductive labor also affect the girls who are
socialized as apprentices of their mothers so
they can play similar roles in future. Other
items prominent in the schools were behavioral
problems of pupils such as absenteeism, drop
outs. According to head teacher of St Jude
there is an attitude problem in his school
because most parents here don't consider
education a priority, they see children,
especially girls, as valuable for marriages and
tending gardens. Subsistence farming affects
academic performance because it leads to high
levels of both pupil and teacher absenteeism at
school. While the parents' income can be
boosted by earnings from gardening, very few
spend it on their children's education. Secondly
while the cash from gardening is a huge boost
to the parents, education and health don't
come cheaply. Parents prioritize buying food
ahead of paying school fees.
This partly explains why the school has not had
any first grades in PLE the last three years.
Some parents refuse to make any contributions
towards their children's education, believing
that government will provide all the necessities.
Some teachers walk long distances to school
and fail to make the journey back the next day
in time. But other problems like overcrowded
classrooms persist. Exposure to educational
opportunities determines differential
consequences for more and less advantaged
groups (including economic and social
consequences). How ever there is possibility of
movement from lower to upper class upper
classes through success in education. It is
recommended that A well developed support
system is essential for educational attainment.
The performance of students and schools
needs to be tracked closely in order to reveal
both excellence and underperformance as a
basis for designing policy interventions.
5.1.2 Parents' Income and pupils' educational
attainment

This study found that the parents' level of

income positively affects educational
attainment of pupils in Masafu sub county
primary schools with a correlation coefficient.
Costs generally increases with the number of
school years attended. And parents with lower
level of income have worse income shocks. As
such they may fail to acquire the materials
needed for their children's education success.
However it is important to understand whether
lack of income has temporary or permanent
effects on pupils' enrolment and performance.
As for enrolment lack of income may have
temporary effects whereby pupils withdrawn
from school may return to school in the
following year. But where lack of income has a
permanent shock on enrolment, pupils who
dropped out of primary school will remain
absent over time. This is especially possible for
pupils whose parents may decide to allow them
to marry in families that value their labor more
than education.
The next time a child cries over being dropped
from a class or game, allow him or her to
experience the pain of losing, but encourage
the child to get over it by changing his or her
attitude. Reassure the child that all people fail
at some point, but work at improving their
current state. Remind the child that even the
most popular people have failed once or more
at some point in their lives, but chose not to
stay at the place of failure Mention to your child
that instead of giving up, successful people
strive to improve their skills or find
better ways of coping with challenges they
cannot change. Only parents with more income
and who are willing to invest this income in
their children's education by means of
providing educational requirements will better
enable their children to perform better. This is
because they can afford school fees, buy
exercise books, text books which are some of
the variants of cultural capital that Pierre
Bourdieu thought give the children who
possess them advantage over those who do
not. One should also note that parents with
more income but unwilling to invest it in their
children education will have pupils who may
perform poorly.

In such cases do not let the pupil dive into a

mood of giving up. Encourage him or her to
remember that it is always important to finish
whatever they start and where there is a will
there is a way. This kind of thinking helps
children to stroll out of the disappointment
mood and have something to look forward to.
Unlike level of parent's education which is
acquired over time, income obtained from non
salary sources varies and children may have
access to money other than what the parent
can give them. As such one would expect that
lack of parent's income to care for the child's
requirements should not impair children's
enrolment in school.

A pupil who is focused may work and obtain

some money for simple school requirement like
books rather than relying on parents to provide.
However care should be taken that the children
do not remain absent hoping for automatic
promotion. Such an attitude leads to poor
performance. It
is important to note that although socio
economic status is influential in determining
achievement, school resources appear to be
capable of countering socio economic
disadvantage, particularly in low occupational
settings. As such UPE has a significant impact
on average achievement levels because of
little vote for fees and administration.

The greater the proportion of children enrolled

for free education, the lower educational quality
levels tend to be. As such the more able
parents flee away with there children to private
schools but parent with low education can not.
The problems of insufficient text books and
other educational materials also contribute
poor educational attainment. For example
Akanle (2007) reported that the problems of
insufficient text books and other educational
materials also contribute to the problem of
teaching and learning in Nigeria.

Nannyonjo, (2007) reported that books at

home which proxies for educational and social
background of the family was found to have
strong positive relationship with pupil test
scores and that the level of performance
increases with the number of books at home.
In addition, pupils who had more books at
home also have parents with higher
educational attainment, a variable that has
been found to have a positive influence on test
scores.

However the results are not entirely in line with

the findings of the aforementioned researchers.
These results implied that the higher the
number of pupils sharing a text book,
the lower the test scores. So provision of text
books should be accompanied by increased
actess to the text books by pupils. In this
regard, pupils should be allowed to take school
text books to their home. This can enable
Pupils to work together in pair or in small
groups (with or without assistance from
parents).

5.1.3 Parents' occupation and pupils'

educational attainment.

Parents whose occupational prestige is low

had more children who perform poorly. Like
wise parents with higher occupation have
children who aim higher and perform better. In
the conceptual frame work, the parents'
occupation was classified as manual on
manual. Such a description better suited the
trends of occupation in Uganda though others
would classify occupation as skilled, semi
skilled and unskilled. This researcher assumed
that even manual jobs exercise certain skills.
Therefore all jobs involve skills. The
predominantly manual occupation tends to be
done by parents with low education and low
income. As such occupation problems add to
the disadvantages parents with little income
and level of education face. This study found a
strong and positive correlation between
parent's occupation and pupil's performance.
This implies that the lower the lower parents'
occupations prestige, the poorer pupils'
performance tends to be.
The correlation coefficient between parents
occupation and pupils' attainrnent was found to
be. However job status can be a sensitive
thing. For example, one may tell another a
more flattering title or inflate their status simply
by changing the label of the job they do. But
there is no need to candy-coat failure, loss,
defeat or disappointment, under the guise of
low occupation. One should not dwell on it
either. You can, instead, choose to let the child
know that things may not always work out as
expected. Let pupils know that you too as a
parent get disappointed sometimes, but have
learnt to overcome disappointments. Reassure
the child that he or she has a chance of
winning another time because there is always
room for one at the top.

Another explanation why pupils from peasant

backgrounds drop out is that it does not require
complicated skills learned in school to do
subsistence farming. So schooling appears to
be irrelevant for subsistence farmers. But if it is
true that proceeds from subsistence farming
are allocated basing on parent's priorities
(Kakuru 2001, Kasente, 2003, Bjorkman,
(2005), there is need for them to change
attitude. This is because rural development is
often presumed to rest on educational
improvement and high levels of mathematics
achievement might seem essential to
improving the quality of rural life and the
viability of cural communities. Opolot-Okurut C
([Link] using a sample of 30
professionally qualified primary school
teachers of mathematics who had diploma
certificates in education, from the corpus of
primary school teachers. investigated factors
that hinder pupils opportunity to learn
mathematics and reported that the challenges
that teachers face include: the characteristics
of the pupils; the overcrowded classrooms; the
nature of the curriculum and
syllabus, government policies on education
and the learning environment and assessment.
These factors need to be addressed to
enhance the academic performance of pupils
in the country. Parents are typically less
motivated to send their children to school
during periods of disorder because of unstable
occupations. To approximate the extent to
which individuals are affected by period of
instability Michal Bauer and Julie Chytilova
(2009) calculated the number of years of the
respondents primary schooling age (7-14) that
overlap with the period of 1971-1979. They
expect that the higher the exposure to Amin's
era, the lower the education level. Similar
pattern was found by other studies as well in
Burundi, DR Congo, Mozambique, Sudan,
Nicaragua and Turkey where there were
greater negative change in school enrolment in
boys than for girls Losing may help children to
develop empathy and perseverance. These
virtues are vital as the child lives in the real
world. Congratulating and praising a child for
every effort, regardless of the struggles
experienced, motivates him or her to
persevere. One important characteristic for
educational attainment is an extremely high
level of energy among learners, teachers and
parents

This can be associated with an environment of

competition albeit from different stand points
and in different forms.

5.2 Conclusions

A family's socioeconomic status is based on

family income, parental education level,
parental occupation, and social
status in the community.

Less educated Parents may have inadequate

skills for such activities as reading to and with
their children, and Having inadequate
resources and limited access to available
resources can negatively affect families'
decisions regarding their young children's
development and learning. As a result of the
financial and material issues surrounding
working class families, low income parents are
most concerned with providing basic survival
needs like food and shelter. Families with
higher occupational prestige often have more
success in preparing their young children for
school because they typically have access to a
wide range of resources to promote and
support young children's development. They
are able to provide their young children with
high-quality child care, books, and toys to
encourage children in various learning
activities at home. Also, they have easy access
to information regarding their children's health,
as well as social, emotional, and cognitive
development. In addition, families with high
socioeconomic status often seek out
information to help them better prepare their
young children for school.

5.3 Recommendations.

1) Parents should improve on their education

levels through adult education progranis.

2) Pupils from low socioeconomic backgrounds

should try to persevere through financial
hardships and remain in school
because schooling eventually has a redeeming
effect on their poor plight.

3) Teachers should help pupils who obtain low

grades to develop academic curiosity in fields
which are more relevant to them.

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Anneli K. (2005) Factors of Income Inequality

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De Lint, J. (1997). Note on Birth and

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