School Attendance is a Pre-Requisite for Student Academic Performance in Universal Secondary Education Schools

Abstract

The study explored the effects of students' absenteeism on student academic and school performance in Uganda. The study also assessed the effectiveness of class attendance monitoring tool; the challenges faced by the school administration in dealing with absentee student(s); and established the relationship between students' absenteeism and academic performance of students. The relevant literature was reviewed to anchor the methodology and the findings. The study adopted descriptive cross-sectional survey design. A combination of stratified and purposive sampling was applied to accommodate the variety of respondents from Serere, Soroti, Kumi and Ngora districts in Teso sub-region; North Eastern Uganda. The study used questionnaires and interview schedules to collect primary data from 349 respondents who participated in the study out of the expected 384 obtained from a target population of 100,000 giving a response rate of 90.89%. The findings shows that the monitoring tools used for students' attendance are effective (good) and there is a very positive relationship between student attendance and academic performance. The researcher also found that school attendance affects both the students and the school performance. To the students; it leads to poor academic performance, students drop out, graduating half-baked students, poor curriculum coverage and loss of interest in learning whist to the school; it affects the school image, lower the students' enrollment, transfer of students by parents, wastage of teachers' and administrators' time and affects the university/tertiary enrolment. However, the school administration faces challenges of; interruption of lessons, students being hostile/belligerent to teachers, and parents defending their children whilst dealing with absenteeism students. The study also provides the practical and most effective strategies to improve students' attendance. These staregies include; promoting Zero Tolerance to Students Absenteeism, parental involvement and participation, developing students' mentoring programmes, improving "rich" student's programmes, promoting guidance and counseling, promote good communication, reward students with regular attendance, and need to monitor and supervise school attendance. The researcher concludes that, to support students academically in and out of school; administrators, teachers, and families need to have a shared understanding of their children's learning and work as partners to meet their academic and social-emotional needs.

An Investigation into The Causes of Absenteeism Among Primary School Learners in Lufwanyama District

“…Another effect of pupil absenteeism on teaching and learning revealed by the study is that of interruptions of lessons which in most cases render the teacher unable to cover the syllabus adequately. This was confirmed by Komakech (2015) who observed that not all teachers always manage to teach the full syllabus for a given term and yet the final examination takes into account all the topics within the syllabus. The incomplete teaching time is a decisive factor which impacts negatively on students and school results (Daka, Chipindi and Mkandawire, 2020).…”

“…The incomplete teaching time is a decisive factor which impacts negatively on students and school results (Daka, Chipindi and Mkandawire, 2020). Komakech (2015) submitted that students' absenteeism led to an increased risk of dropping out because pupils who miss school are more likely to avoid school and less likely to want to go to school. Besides, when a pupil experiences school failure, he/she becomes frustrated with lack of achievement and end up alienated and experience exclusion leading to eventual dropout.…”

Effects of School Distance on Girls’ Education and Influence on Gender Inequality in Secondary Education: Case Study of Community Secondary Schools in Pangani and Handeni Districts, Tanzania

“…One of the prerequisites for improvement of academic performance is to maintain a high rate of school attendance and participation of classroom learning, the vice versa is true for students who have a high rate of school absenteeism and poor classroom learning participation (Agwot, 2015). School distance encourages poor classroom learning among learners who live far away from school because they normally arrive late at school when classroom sessions have been started (Oneye and Onyango, 2021).…”

Controversies and opportunities of two development measures for the advancement of women in Uganda: Formal education and Women entrepreneurship

“…Universal school education programmes, for example, have compromised the access to and the quality of education (Blaak et al, 2013;Datzberger, 2018) that both girls and boys receive due to the increase in the classroom ratio at primary and secondary levels (UBOS, 2017). Coupled with poor teacher remuneration to enforce school discipline, this creates an environment that may result in leaving school and unplanned homemaking for women (Kayongo et al, 2019;Komakech, 2015) and thus resulting in a search for work to take care of the family hence a shift in goals from formal education to women entrepreneurship. This leads to the creation of small and medium sized enterprises that are survival driven with limited education experience to lead them to higher success.…”