SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS IMPACT ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS – A REGRESSION ANALYSIS

Abstract

Socio-economic characteristics play an important role in students’ academic performance. The socio-economic factor of an individual is usually measured by education, employment-status and the income of his/her parents, which determine an individual’s or a group’s standard of living. The earlier studies on this subject investigated the socio-economic factor that impacted students’ academic performance at the higher secondary school level of education. The present study examines the impact of socio-economic factors on the academic performance of higher secondary school students. The sample for this study was gathered from 764 higher secondary school students in Salem District of Tamil Nadu, in India. The present study has found that the educational levels of the mothers and their occupation factors considerably impact their children’s academic performance. The influence of Father’s education and employment status is on a moderate level. The income of the family has negatively impacted the students’ academic performance at 1% level significant. However, the types of schools and mediums of education also have a strong bearing on the students’ academic performance at the higher secondary level. This study concludes that there is a direct relationship between socio-economic factors and the academic performance of higher secondary school students.