Education is the most important part of life to uphold intelligence and human can increase knowledge through which an individual move the world for good and sinful on the basis of his wishes. Education, in fact, is one of the major life processes of human beings, as there are other vital processes to live likewise education, are also a vital process in every aspect of human life. (Ahmer. F & Anwer. E, 2013)
There are many factors which effects on students learning and academic achievement including student performance, teacher role, family support, school environment, peer relationship and the most important factor is the socioeconomic status of parents. According to Mehmood and Saifi (2011), socioeconomic status is a combined measure of an individual’s or family’s economic and social position relative to others, based on income, education, and occupation.” The home environment is influenced by the factors such as parent’s education, occupation, income, and facilities provided to their children. All these factors together can be defined by a single term the “ socio-economic status” (SES) of parents. Thus we can say that the socioeconomic status of parents affects the performance, learning and academic achievement of students.
I have selected this topic because of the multiple reasons; the reason is that being a student I have also face many hurdles during my studies till now so those movements force me to choose this topic. Like me, most of the students in our society also face financial problems. So due to low socioeconomic status students cannot compete and unable to achieve their goal. In addition, they become dependent on parents and parents make decisions for them. Moreover many students end up with psychological problems like stress and depression due to the financial crisis and they can’t achieve their ultimate goal.
It is generally said that the performance of students in academic depends on the socioeconomic status of their parents. Higher the socioeconomic status the better exposure to learning facilities. If parents are well educated and economically stable they afford their children to get a better education and they always support their children what they want to do. As in literature, it is also stated that well-educated parents ensure their children’s future earning by providing them auspicious learning environment but the students who belong to a low socioeconomic status family even they can’t afford their basic needs. Such students do not have access to learning facilities. (Ahmer. F & Anwer. E, 2013).
Research shows that students from lower socioeconomic background faced a higher risk of low achievement as compared to students from a higher socioeconomic background. Home environment and parents education are directly effect on students learning. (Nasreen. A, 2013).
So the environment at home is the basic learning unit and effects a child interest and ambitions for the future. If we look upon on our society most people are more interested in rich people and they show more respect towards them and their children. So research shows that lower Socioeconomic status students have lower and lower academic achievement as compared with students of higher Socio-economic status. When a teacher makes a decision about students based on their class and Socio-economic status, they are taking the first step in checking students from having an equal opportunity for academic achievement. Ghazi et al. (2013). Due to teachers stigma mostly students suffered from their studies and they cannot show good performance in education. So it’s educators responsibility to overcome this stigma of poverty and help those students to boost up their hidden talent.
Being a citizen of a developing country almost more than half of the total population is living in rural areas and they mostly belong to the low socioeconomic family. As our country is on the list of poor countries where the majority of the population belongs to low socioeconomic status. So it’s very difficult for parents to fulfil all the needs of their children. Poverty is the main problem which has a direct effect on students learning especially when it occurs early in the child’s life. When it remains throughout their life it influences child development in different ways, like the physical and mental health of the child as well as it influences on parents health also. It also influences child affective interactions. According to Karwowski (2012), Parents’ social position influences many aspects of their children’s school careers. The higher social position of parents of children with disabilities may make it easier for them to meet their costly needs, as well as to act as they support their children in contacts with educational institutions and to help them in their studies.
I have also experienced this kind of situation in my school life. When I completed my secondary education with good grades, I got admission in Aga Khan higher secondary school but unfortunately, at that time, my father lost his job. At that time I had no any option to get admission even I couldn’t continue my studies and I missed one year and I felt at that time. Even I didn’t talk to my family members and it was a moment of disappointment for me and the family as well. At that time I consulted a counsellor who advised me to continue my studies in another college. After all these situations I realized the importance of socioeconomic status. at that time I became very sad because it was very difficult for me to cope with that situation. Due to the economic crises, I had to leave my previous school which was at the top level in our area. In literature, it is also stated that parents income level is an important factor that affects the academic achievement and performance of their children. If the parents earn good and adequate than there would be less stress for the parents as well as for their children. They will provide learning resources easily to their children. While parents with low income, they cannot afford easily their children such a learning environment which becomes a barrier in the learning process. (Ahmad. I & Khan. N, 2012). In addition, low income of parents also leads to conflicts in families due to lack of access to basic needs of their children. So the students who belong to a low socioeconomic status they cannot get a quality education and they cannot access new technology facilities like the internet to get information and they are unable to acquire new technology. As in a research among the students of a university in Sargodha shows that students who are getting facilities of new technology show high grades and they show better performance as compared to those students who belong to low socioeconomic status. Azher et al,. (2013).
Another factor which affects students learning and academic achievement is parents education. Educated parents can easily understand the basic needs and important resources for their children. For the progress of any individual education plays a vital role in their life.
According to Ahmad and Khan (2012), parent’s education level play an important role in the academic performance of their children. Because educated parents can easily manage the difficulties in any mode of their children’s education and they know how to encourage to create interest in the academic performance. Educated parents can easily manage their timetable to check and balance their daily activities. in addition, especially mother education is very important for child development which has a big effect on a child’s performance and academic achievement.
According to Lacour. M & Laura. D (2011). It is stated that mother education has an important effect on children’s score rather than parents income. The mother’s educational level has 20% higher efficiency than the father’s education level on the academic achievement of students.
Another negative effect of low socioeconomic status is the cognitive development of children.
Most parents use alcohol and other substance like cigarettes to cope up with stress during financial crises as I encountered such a client in my neighbour who always drinks alcohol when he faces any problem. He has two children and both are not good at their studies. Both of them always missed their classes and they even cannot solve simple mathematics problems.
According to Brogan (2009). The families among low socioeconomic status there are more incidents of substance abuse, which effects on their child’s cognitive development. Especially if any mothers use alcohol during pregnancy their children are more prone to attention problems and the children with premature birth develop neurological problems like mental retardation.
They also cause lessened brain development. All these problems lead to learning and performance disabilities which effects on academic achievement of children.
Being a nursing student it’s our responsibility to teach about the importance of education for the better development of child and family. Another important factor is parent’s income which influences a student’s performance, therefore, it is recommended that the government should take some serious initiatives to provide jobs to people and raise the socioeconomic status of people. The government should provide financial support and should give scholarship especially to those who cannot afford the expenses of education.
Mass media also play an important role in the awareness among people regarding the poor literacy condition in our country on account of socioeconomic problems. in addition, we can counsel students to do extra efforts along with their studies so that they don’t have to compromise with their studies.
In conclusion, I want to say that keeping the view of the above discussion there is a direct relation between socioeconomic status and students learning and academic achievement.
Especially the parents’ income and education level which has a great impact on children academic achievement. Therefore it’s very important to raise the socioeconomic status of people so they can easily afford their children education expenses. For this, we can have interventions individually and on government level like educating parents, mass media awareness, and scholarship etc. As it is stated in a study which is conducted in International Islamic University Islamabad that socioeconomic status has a significant impact on students learning. Akhter (2012).
