Socio-Economic Status and Children's Educational Achievements

This study investigated how much influence the SES of parents has on students¿ achievements in the Awutu-Senya and Effutu Educational Directorates of the Central Region of Ghana. The study focused on parents¿ financial status, educational qualifications, jobs, enabling learning environment at home and the type of school attended and how these affected students¿ achievements. The study adopted a cross sectional and a multi-site case study designs. The population consisted of school officials, teachers, students of SHS and parents. A sample size of 531 respondents was chosen for the study.Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, direct observation and secondary data were used to collect data. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted. Respondents agreed parents¿ financial circumstances affected students¿ academic achievements in the study area. Respondents agreed to some extent with the assumption that educational qualifications of parents influenced students¿ academic success. The study recommends that Government of Ghana should expand its youth training programme on skills acquisition to cover all categories of people who desire skills.