Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior
Open Access

Research Article

Study of Risk Factors of Academic Underperformance in Rural School Children in a Coastal District of Odisha

Department of Pediatrics, SCB Medical College, Cuttack, Odisha, India

*Corresponding Author:

Rashmita Nayak
Department of Pediatrics
SCB Medical college, Cuttack
Odisha, India
Tel: +09040131073
E-mail: rashmitabnayak@gmail.com

Received Date: Dec 29, 2016; Accepted Date: Jan 31, 2017; Published Date: Feb 10, 2017

Citation: Nayak R, Mohanty N, Beriha S, Mohapatra S (2017) Study of Risk Factors of Academic Underperformance in Rural School Children in a Coastal District of Odisha. J Child Adolesc Behav 5: 332. doi:10.4172/2375-4494.1000332

Copyright: © 2017 Nayak, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Aim: A scientific and systematic research was made to find the incidence and etiology of academic underperformance focusing on student, teacher, parent and other social factors and its impact on children. Material and Method: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out in three schools of some parts of rural areas of Odisha with 125 students of class VIII with less than 35% aggregate marks. Parents, Class teachers and Head of the schools were interviewed through questionnaires and interview schedules. Results: All the students belong to age group of 12-16 years. The ratio of males (85) to females (40) is 2.1:1. Parental illiteracy and no contribution in academics in 88% of the students is one of the important factors in their underperformance. 41.2% of the fathers are alcoholic and 7.2% students face domestic violence. Other causes of academic underperformance are attendance <40% in 44%, visual acuity <6/18 in 8.8%, acute illness (12%), dental caries (28%), worm infestation (21.6%) and other chronic ailments (9.6%). 72% of the students had previous history of academic underperformance. 8.8% of them had history of suicidal and depressive thoughts. Conclusion: Social and family factors have influence on the academic functioning of children. A wholesome approach including finding the etiology and counseling for the students, teachers and parents individually can give a proper direction towards solution for repeated underperformance.

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