Socio-Economic Factors That Influence Teaching and Learning Achievements in Secondary Schools in Eastern Region of Uganda A Case Study of Kaliro District

Abstract This study investigated the socio-economic factors that influence teaching and learning achievements in secondary schools in Eastern Uganda, Kaliro district focusing on senior Iwo students. The objectives of the study were; to find out how students’ home and family background determine their learning achievements, to investigate the effect of students’ characteristics on learning, to study the effect of teacher characteristics on students’ learning achievement anti to examine the effect of school characteristics on students’ learning achievements. Southern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality III 2007 data set wasutilizedin this study The data was collected using a stratified two-stage cluster sample design. The levels of data analysis included univariate where frequency tables and descriptive statistics were used to explain background information. At Bivariate level, statistical significance of the association between the dependent variable and the independent variables were established using Pearson chi-square test with the significance level fixed at 5%. Exploratory factor analysis wasused to come up with latent variables that were finally be fitted in the linear regression model, with student ‘s performance as the dependent variable. Empirical results reveal that grade repetition (‘p= 0.002), place of stay (p 0.020), use of information communication technology ‘p 0.048). parents’ education level ~= 0.000), experience of the Head teachers ~= 0. 036). distume 10 social service centers (p= 0.017) and access to instructional and learning materials (p~ 0.00(1) are each important in influencing learner performance in secondary schools in Uganda. On the other hand, students ‘characteristics, socio-economic status, availability of meals a! home, homework help and teachers’ characteristics were significant in influencing students ‘learning achievements in Uganda. The government of Uganda through the education sector should procure enough learning and instructional materials/or all secondary schools, and also allocate resources towards the development of boarding sections in secondary schools which is currently’ under developed. It will be also recommended that the Ministry of Gender and Social Development develops strategies for strengthening adult literacy campaigns.