Interventions aimed at improving academic performance of the afternoon classes in grade 12 final examinations in selected schools in Choma District, Southern Province, Zambia

Due to government's desire to have as many eligible children as possible and
inadequate class space in schools, government has allowed a regular afternoon
session to run concurrently with the morning session (Kelly, 1999). This has
motivated the researcher to investigate the academic performance of the afternoon
pupils.
The study aimed at investigating the academic performance in grade 12
examination of the afternoon classes by school administrators in Choma District,
Zambia. The five schools that participated in the study were pseudo named Kudu,
Sable, Eland, Impala and Duiker. The study objectives were; to establish the
academic performance of pupils from the afternoon classes, to find out from pupils,
teachers, HODs and Head teachers’ factors that influence pupil performance, to find
out interventions employed by secondary school administrators aimed at improving
academic performance in grade 12 final examinations of the afternoon classes in
Choma District.
A case study design was used which combined qualitative and quantitative
techniques of data collection and analysis. The sample comprised 90 pupils, 45
teachers, 12 HODs and 5 Headteachers of the selected schools. The data were
collected through questionnaires, interview schedules, Focus Group Discussions
and documents found in schools. Qualitative data were analysed thematically
through identification of themes that emerged from the data. The Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20.0) was used for quantitative data to
generate descriptive statistics such as tables, frequencies and charts.
The study revealed that pupils from all the five schools were under performing. The
unsatisfactory performance of pupils from all the schools was attributed to
inadequate learning and teaching resources, time, poor supervision by school
administrators, de-motivated teachers, and low cut off for selection of pupils to
grade ten (10), teacher and pupil absenteeism, lack of school academic policies and
over enrolment among others. Some possible interventions were suggested by
stakeholders to remedy the vice. These include, improving selection criteria to
grade ten, reducing over enrolment, intensifying supervision, procurement of
teaching and learning materials as well as introduction of government allowances to
afternoon session teachers.
The study made the following recommendations; the government need to introduce
extra duty allowance to teachers of afternoon sessions, absenteeism of pupils and
teachers be addressed by school managers, the MOGE should ensure that all
secondary schools are well resourced in terms of teaching and learning materials,
the government need to raise the cut-off point to grade 10 for afternoon pupils, the
government should build weekly boarding houses for afternoon pupils especially
girls among others.