Family Status and Students’ Academic Achievement in Agricultural Sciences

Abstract

Agriculture is vital for economic development and food self-sufficiency, poverty alleviation and environmental protection. To achieve this, effective agricultural educational training is required, especially in agricultural science subjects for preparing individuals to take agriculture as a profession. However, students’ academic achievement in agricultural sciences in Nigeria is low. This study investigated the relationship between family status and students’ academic achievements in agricultural science subject. To achieve this goal, students from Katsina State Science and Technical Education Board (STEB) were purposively selected for the study.Random sampling technique was used to select 300 students from six secondary schools. Primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire and checklists. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics to yield frequencies, percentages and cross tabulations. The Study results showed that majority of parentswere literate and civil servants. Similarly, majority of parents had migrated to urban areas for white collar jobs. Parents’ education and occupation, family type, dependency ratio, and family feeding significantly correlated with students’ academic achievement in agricultural science. However, family health care and family size were independent of students’ academic achievement. It is recommended that Katsina State using its state education offices should initiate collaborations with non-governmental organizations and educate parents on the importance of their roles to improve academic achievement of their children.