Pre-Schooling and Academic Performance of Lower Primary School Pupils in Rural Zambia

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between pre-schooling and the academic performance of pre-schooled lower primary school pupils in a rural Zambian setting of Zambezi district. The study also assessed the socio-economic status (SES) of parents, pupils’ sex, age and their academic performance. This study employed a quantitative cross sectional design and used Chi-square test of independence, Phi and Cramer’s V test, Independent sample t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient to analyze the data obtained. The results indicated that there was a relationship between pre-schooling and the performance of pre-schooled lower primary school pupils in literacy and numeracy. However, it was also shown that there was no relationship between the SES of parents, pupil’s sex age and academic performance of the pupils in literacy and numeracy. Based on the obtained results, the study recommended that the Ministry of Education should scale up the implementation of preschools in government schools. This may provide easy access to pre-school education especially in rural areas where pre-schools are very few.

Keywords: Social Economic Status (SES), pre-schooling, academic performance