Abstract:
Agriculture is the mainstay of a significant section of the populace in the Jaffna
peninsula. Consequently, any progress in the welfare in the lives of those involved in
agriculture, certainly would result in the progress of the entire region. Education is an
essential element in the sustainable development goals of the United Nations (UNSDG
4). The most recent media reports seem to reveal that performance of the Jaffna district
at GCE (O/L) falls behind the rest of the districts of Sri Lanka. Thus, researcher has
endeavoured to identify the causes which led to such a result. To this end, 312 students
were selected by a purposive random sampling procedure from all nine educational
zones in the Jaffna district. A pretested structured questionnaire was administered to
the students selected during the period of April to May, 2017. A multiple regression
analysis was performed by employing the econometric software STATA 13. The results
revealed that, self-study of each pupil had contributed positively in the elevation of
performance in all subjects at 1% probability level. This implies that when the students’
individual average studying time increases by one-time unit the average marks scored
increased by 6.69, 5.92, and 5.21 units in mathematics, science, and Tamil, respectively.
It reveals that, besides, their application at home, enhances their overall performance
considerably. However, no significant relationship is indicated in the performance of a
pupil in respect to the number of hours spent in tuition. It is also seen that the attitude
of the parents, due to their shortfall in education, which makes them believe that school
hours and tuition hours together, will suffice to help their children succeed, is false.
Besides, the visits to the library affect positively at 5% significant level, the cumulative
average marks of the students in science and Tamil Language. It is recommended that
adequate facilities be provided for children in peasant families and they be encouraged
to visit libraries. Besides, with reference to their children’s education an awareness
extension program is recommended to target peasant parents. Those NGOs or any
philanthropists or Governmental organisations dealing with the wellbeing of peasants, if
they institute self-study units in homes for children, it would be very effective in
enhancing performance and the same is recommended strongly.
