Factors Affecting Absenteeism among Junior High School Students in a Public School

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the factors affecting absenteeism of second year students in a typical public high school. A 38-item survey questionnaire was conducted among 80 junior high school students coming from first and last section only. The survey questionnaire was conducted and consisted of five corresponding reasons for absenteeism such as personal reasons, natural reasons, subject-related reasons, teacher-related reasons, and the school administration reasons. The survey questionnaire was developed, pilot-tested, and validated by the researcher. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics like percentage frequency distribution. The findings of the study revealed that attending household chores in personal reasons, sickness in the family and bad weather in natural and social reasons, availability of lessons in the web and classmates’ notes in subject-related reasons, and the perception of students that teacher is biased in the class in teacher-related reasons, were the highest agreed responses of students not attending the classes. Also, the most prevalent factors that affect the absenteeism of students are personal reasons, natural and social reasons, and subject-related reasons while teacher-related reasons and school administration reasons are not considered as major factors of students’ absenteeism in school.