Gender And Academic Performance Research

CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Problem

Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which knowledge, skills and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching training, research or simply through autodictatism (Mbilinyi 1991).

Education has been practised since the beginning of societies, thus according to me, education:

a) Is a lifelong process through which one achieves social competence and individual growth

b) Is a process of transmission of the values and accumulated knowledge of a society from one generation to another.

c) Stimulates change in an individual and society

d) Involves teaching and learning whereby the leaner is an individual being educated. The

For example, such factors as poor policy in the educational system, inappropriate teaching methodologies, and assessments criteria in internal examinations are always mentioned as factors constituting girls’ poor academic

Girls perform lower than boys especially in mathematics and science. Statistics show a higher percentage of boys than girls drop out. Girls receive negative expectations about their studies, from teachers, peers and the community at large (Bendera, 1994; Khwaya Puja, 1994; TGNP, 1993). These gender differences are more pronounced in secondary and further education than on the primary school stage. It has been revealed that girls’ poor academic performance is a worldwide phenomenon, and that the problem is severe in Tanzania. Factors that range from the educational system, pedagogical, economic and socio-cultural factors are frequently associated with the problem of girls’ poor academic performance in Tanzania. While the problem of girls’ poor academic performance is reported to prevail in Tanzania different studies has been conducted to examine the students’ academic performance on factors such as truancy, pregnancies, teaching and learning materials, dropouts, and libraries.

Although some of such studies have addressed on academic performance, they have not quite paid attention on those factors with exclusive effect on girls; as opposed to those factors that affect both boys and girls. This paper is more specific as it will explore and examine different sociological factors leading to girls’ poor academic performance in public secondary schools in