Title:
DOES PARENTAL SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS MATTER IN PUPILS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN KENYA CERTIFICATE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

Authors:
Masinde Carolyne and Musera Geoffrey Ababu,Kenya

Abstract:
We explore the effects of Parental Socio-economic Status (SES) on pupils’ academic achievement. The population was the class eight primary school pupils enrolled in Bungoma Central Sub County. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 300 class eight pupils. The SES questionnaire was self-administered to the sampled pupils. Principal Component Analysis was used to categorize pupils into three Socio-economic Statuses. The obtained scores in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination were used as pupils’ academic achievement. The Multiple Regression Analysis results showed that parental SES has a statistically significant effect on pupils’ academic achievement in KCPE and that pupils from high SES were predicted to have high scores in KCPE compared to their counterparts in low SES. The findings reinforce the existing literature indicating that academic achievement is a function of SES. There is need to assist pupils from poor backgrounds financially to reduce disparities in educational outcomes as a result of SES