Impact of Parental Support and Home Environment on School Achievement in Adolescents Supported by Compassion in Kampala

Abstract

This study sought to find out how parental support and home environment impact school achievement in adolescents supported by Compassion International, Uganda. The study used parental support and home environment as the independent variables with the school achievement as the dependent variable. Major indicators for parental support included home work support, career guidance, love and affection, provision of food, shelter, medical care, provision of scholastic materials and clothing. Indicators for home environment included availability of reliable lighting, amount of domestic workload (housework), distance from school and number of people living in the house compared to number of rooms. Indicators for school achievement (the dependent variable, included school grades, leadership responsibilities and the level of participation in co-curriculum activities, discipline, nature and number of friends. The study was descriptive and conducted in Kampala Custer. Respondents were adolescent children who have completed primary leaving examinations (PLE) and supported by compassion under the church owned projects. The findings of this study indicated that compassion supported children's school achievement is average. The average school achievement was attributed to the fact that supported children attend poor performing Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools since most of them are from a poor backgrounds. The study also revealed that parents do offer reasonable support to their children to enable them to achieve in school; however due to poverty, home environment was found not to be conducive to school achievement. There is need for more activities that encourage parents to give their children support which includes textbooks, enough lighting, reduced household chores, proper accommodation, enough food, quiet environment, reading space and socio-emotional support to achieve better results at school.