Understanding Female Students’ Academic Performance: An Exploration of the Situation in South Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State - Ethiopia

This study focuses on female students’ academic achievement in SNNPR. It assumed that the individual and combined results of family, student and school characteristics on academic achievement of secondary schools female students in the South Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State context of Ethiopia. The study consists of 53 participants from educational institutions and educational managers of the Region. The study was focus on female students’ academic achievement with reference to 10th grade public examination results from 2004 – 2008. The research conclusion indicated that the set of variables consisting family characteristics such as socio-economic status of parents, level of education, occupation and income are highly influential in female students’ academic achievement. In addition, students’ characteristics such as the wellbeing of the student in the school, participation in scholastic and co-curricular activities, and perception of students in school rules and regulation, and perception about familial involvement and support could affect the achievement of female students. Furthermore, school characteristics such as the effect of school quality and supportive mechanism as well as teachers’ commitment to help female students by providing tutorial program could affect their achievement. Also reduce the direct costs of schooling for the children from poor families and schools should be encouraged to provide progressive gender focused tutorial programmes and to offer complete instructional programs in a cycle or level. Finally, high need of domestic work, lack of parental involvement, inadequate supportive mechanism, and lack of role model female teachers and high rate of absenteeism are the major findings of the research.