Abstract:
The study investigated how Junior High School pupils from deprived households in
Kasoa cope with their academic work. The concurrent triangulation design within the
mixed method approach was used for the study. Data were collected by administering
questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide to 80 Junior High School pupils
and 4 headteachers in Kasoa who were sampled using the simple random and purposive
sampling techniques respectively. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive
statistics functions of the Statistical Product for Service Solutions (SPSS) version 20.
The emerging themes from the interviews were used to support the quantitative data.
The findings revealed that, majority of the pupils lived in large families while others
lived with single parents and other relatives. The guardians of most of the pupils fall
within low income earners. It also came to light that pupils adopted both positive and
negative coping strategies. However, the prominent coping strategies involves
engaging in petty trading, working at the chop bars and selling after school hours to
make money to provide with their educational needs. The coping strategies of majority
of the pupils are not effective since majority of them do not perform well academically.
It was recommended that Parents in Kasoa should give birth tofew children they have
so that they will be able to adequately support them in school. Also, Junior High schools
in Kasoa should create conducive environment for pupils to feel happy at school,
support them academically and also provide social, emotional and academic support to
pupils from deprived homes. This will help them cope effectively with their studies.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Social Studies Education,
Faculty of Social Science, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Social Studies Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
OCTOBER, 2019
