SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND AND STUDY HABITS AS IMPORTANT CORRELATES OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS
In today’s world, the perspective of education has completely changed. People understand that they will only earn if they learn. Future career is speculated by seeing the present academic achievement of the learner. Even the academic achievement is considered as a base for seeking admissions in most of the schools and colleges. It is also considered while getting jobs. Future success of the learners is gauged in terms of their academic achievement in school. Even the various commissions and committees could not deny the importance of academics in the holistic development of the learners. Therefore, they suggested the different teaching- learning approaches and evaluation techniques in order to assess the knowledge and skill acquired by the learners. Academic achievement is basically the measure of success in subject areas of the learners. As mathematics is one of the important school subjects and interrelated with the other school’s subject so, the academic achievement of mathematics is of great concern for all. Keeping the importance of academic achievement of mathematics in mind, it is essential to find out the various variables which have impact on it. Though there are various variables related to cognitive, affective, environmental etc. which have impact on academic achievement of learners. Out of these variables, socio -economic background or status and study habits are the two important correlates. Therefore, it is essential to study the academic achievement of students in mathematics in relation to their socio-economic background and study habits. Though the age of students at secondary level is very crucial and at this age the students are not very immature. It is the right age to develop good study habits in them. Therefore, it is better to study the impact of these correlates on academic achievement at secondary school level. The study will help the stakeholders to know the factors which impede the academic growth of the learners hence giving them opportunity to enhance students’ academic performance.
Keywords: academic achievement, socio- economic status, study habits, mathematics, impact
