A Comparative Study of the Academic Performance of Boarding and Day Secondary School Students in a Rural Town in South Eastern Nigeria

Background: Education is of immense importance to individuals and the society at large. Many factors have been postulated to influence the academic performance of children in different families. There have also been family concerns as to whether boarding house students perform better academically than day students. However, considering the cost of the boarding school system, a lot of families have been put under both financial and psychological stress especially in resource-constrained third world countries where there are no tuition-free high schools.

Objective: The study sought to determine the family factors that affect academic performance as well as compare the academic performance of day and boarding students.

Methodology: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study involving 212 secondary school students of a rural town who met the eligibility criteria and consented to participate in the study. Stratified sampling technique with proportionate allocation was used to select students studied from the school. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS V25.

Results: Of the 212 students studied, 123 were boarding house students and 89 were day students. The mean academic performance for the boarding students’ vs day students was 76.33±11.21% vs 76.51±10.66% with no significant difference between the two. Family factors that affected academic performance were father’s occupation, mother’s occupation and listening to/participating in academic programs among day students.

Conclusion: Encouraging day school students to listen to and or participate in academic programs by parents significantly affects academic performance. Both the boarding and day school system can lead to good academic performance among students. Families can choose whichever system that suits them without undue financial stress on the family income.