Abstract
This study was aimed at assessing the role of socioeconomic status (SES), school attributes (SA), and academic activities (AA) in the academic achievement of secondary school students in Bangladesh. Data were collected by administering a self-administered questionnaire from 1,043 secondary school students using a multistage cluster random sampling. Hierarchical regression suggested that religion significantly but negatively influenced the academic achievement of secondary students, while SES, teacher-student ratio, performance, and education system significantly predicted the academic achievement, although the latter had a negative impact. Besides, self-regulation and communication also showed a substantial role in determining good academic achievement. Policymakers should pay attention to the SES composition of schools and their quality and mode of education, and certain regulatory activities to achieve quality and all-inclusive education in Bangladesh.
Highlights
Since the independence in 1971, the successive governments of Bangladesh—both civil and military—together with nongovernment organizations have been providing free textbooks and food, as well as supporting girls through stipends and other financial incentives at primary and secondary levels [1,2,3]. e authorities have been constructing new infrastructure, including physical facilities for schools, colleges, and universities across the country, and recruiting skilled and trained teachers [4,5,6], spending from its revenues and foreign aids [7], for assuring quality and equitable education for all
At the third and final stage, some specifications have been made to select the samples: (a) the participants must be enrolled in the selected secondary schools; (b) they must be at a secondary level only during the data collection period; (c) they must not be a class/grade repeater; and (d) they must have grade point average (GPA), achieved in year final or public examination (junior secondary certificate (JSC))
Among personal attributes (PA), age, education, and location of residence had no significant relationship with academic achievement
Summary
Since the independence in 1971, the successive governments of Bangladesh—both civil and military—together with nongovernment organizations have been providing free textbooks and food, as well as supporting girls through stipends and other financial incentives at primary and secondary levels [1,2,3]. e authorities have been constructing new infrastructure, including physical facilities for schools, colleges, and universities across the country, and recruiting skilled and trained teachers [4,5,6], spending from its revenues and foreign aids [7], for assuring quality and equitable education for all. Despite some skepticism from educationists and development organizations [8, 9], the overall education system in Bangladesh is progressing presumably with an increase in enrolment and completion rate at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels with substantial improvement in gender parity and reduction of spatial academic inequality [2, 3, 10,11,12]. In 2001, 0.7 million students participated in the secondary school certificate (SSC) examination—a school terminal examination after ten years of primary and secondary schooling—and only 35.2% successfully completed the examination. E participation in the SSC examination increased almost twofold in 2017, and four out of five students completed their secondary studies [13]. Researchers in other parts of world have investigated the influence of academic activities on academic achievement [19, 20]. erefore, this study was designed to fill in the gap and determine the impact of AA, together with PA, SES, and SA, on the academic achievement of secondary students in Bangladesh
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