INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL BACKGROUND AND SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT ON MOTIVATION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENT OF BIOLOGY IN GOMBE METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT Poor performance of secondary school students, in standardized examinations, particularly like the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WAEC), is growing concern recently. In-spite efforts by the Governments and Educational Sector to improve the standards, considerable percentage fail to meet the required standard in core subjects like Mathematics and English. Poor Students Motivation: Lack of interest, or drive to engage in learning and academic activities is a significant challenge in the educational system and often leads to low academic performance, absenteeism, and disengagement. Students’ home environment is their first contact with learning, hence, a poor parental background—marked by economic challenges, social stratification, lack of educational encouragement, or unhealthy family dynamics—sets a weak foundation for motivation. School environment plays a critical role in shaping students' motivation as well. The aim of this study is to evaluate the Influence of Parental Back-ground and School Environment on Motivation and Academic Performance of Secondary School students of Biology in Gombe metropolis. Correlational survey was adapted for the study. The population of the study consisted of year two Senior Secondary students (SS 2) in Gombe metropolis. The study used Simple Random Sampling Procedure to randomly select five sample schools for the study (Kanupriya, 2012). Survey questionnaires were used for data collection from the respondents through directly administered questionnaires to the students to respond appropriately. The data was presented using simple percentages and table was constructed based on the number of the researcher’s questions using Pearson product moment correlation. Hypotheses: H01: There is no significant relationship between parental background and motivation of senior secondary school students in Gombe Metropolis. The correlation coefficient (r = .545) suggested a moderate positive relationship between the two variables. The significance value (p = .000) is less than 0.05, meaning the relationship is statistically significant. Hypotheses: H02: There is no significant relationship between parental background and academic performance of senior secondary school students in Gombe Metropolis. The correlation coefficient (r = .424) indicates a moderate positive relationship between parental background and academic performance. The significance value (p = .000) is less than 0.05, meaning the relationship is statistically significant. Hypotheses: H03: There is no significant relationship between School environment and motivation of senior secondary school students in Gombe Metropolis. The correlation coefficient (r = -0.126) indicates a weak negative relationship between school environment and motivation. The significance value (p = 0.212) is greater than the conventional significance level (0.05), meaning the relationship is not statistically significant. This implies that parental background significantly influences student motivation—students from stronger parental backgrounds tend to be more motivated. The findings that parental background significantly influences student motivation aligns with previous researches like Eccles and Wigfield (2020); Ryan and Deci (2017). Some studies argued that external factors such as peer influence and self-regulation skills may outweigh parental background in shaping motivation (Pintrich, 2003). This findings are consistent with findings from Sirin (2005), who suggested that socio-economic status is one of the strongest predictors of academic performance. . The findings also indicate that students from more supportive and resourceful parental backgrounds exhibit significantly higher motivation levels than their counterparts.