Examining the effects of demographic factors on open school learners’ academic performance in Dar es Salaam region, Tanzania

Abstract

Open schools in Tanzania aim to expand access to secondary education for learners who may be out of school for various reasons, offering a second chance and addressing deficiencies in formal secondary education that are not accessible to everyone due to admission criteria. Despite this, there is a significant disparity in academic performance among learners in Open schools. This paper examines the potential effect of demographic factors: age, educational level, and occupation, on the academic performance of these learners. The study employed a quantitative research approach with a cross-section-survey design to collect data from a sample of 30 Open schools and 454 learners. The results showed that demographic factors among learners in Open schools do not have a discernible effect on their academic performance. These findings suggest that demographic characteristics do not serve as the determinants of the learners’ academic performance in Open schools.