A Study of Academic Performance of School Students in Relation to School Phobia

INTRODUCTION

In the present study academic performance is a kind of anxiety which is related to the impending danger from the environment of the academic institutions including teacher in certain subjects like Mathematics, English, etc. It is a mental feeling of uneasiness or distress in reaction to a school situation that is perceived negatively. An average level of fear is useful in keeping people motivated and responsible and also helpful for people in having a more sustainable and prosperous life. Without any fear most of the people would lack the motivation to do anything in life. Therefore, moderate level of academic performance is essential to motivate students to study for examination and may incline them for better achievements. In this way school phobia may be one of the obstacles to academic performance. Examination fear cannot be ignored at any cost, if we are concerned about students‘ performance. If it is not properly addressed it can have serious and long lasting consequences such as causing a student to procrastinate, perform poorly in school work, and withdraw from socializing with peers or from other situations. Academic performance means performance level of the students. It can be defined as what a student does or perform at his school. It is a common practice to promote students from a lower class to a higher class on the basis of his academic performance. It helps in declaring students successful or unsuccessful, choosing students for various courses and selecting students for different jobs.

The study examined examination fear of school students and its consequences among the students. This study noted that examination fear contribute negatively to students' academic performance, hence, there is the urgent need to exploring for a salvaging means. The researcher raised two research questions and formulated two research hypotheses to guide the study. The significance of the study stems from the benefits of stake holders such as enhanced students' academic performance. The researcher concluded that examination fear is a common phenomenon among the students that result to poor academic performance. Students of higher institutions are associated with anxiety especially when they are preparing for examinations. Examination anxiety is a phenomenon that is associated with low performance of student‘s academic achievement. that occur before or during examination situations (Zeidner, 1998); Examination fear has immense negative impact, hence students‘ low academic performance in schools. This is a physiological condition with students extreme stress, fear and discomfort during or before taking examinations. Researchers suggested high levels of emotional distress that have direct correlation that reduce academic performance and encourage higher overall students drop-out rates (Andrews and Wilding, 2004; Pritchard and Wilson, 2003 and Valz and Laflamme, 2003). Some anxieties are normal and helpful to canvass for mental and physical alert. The prevalence of anxiety enhances emotional distress which emanates stress in students‘ concentration and Int. J. Educ. Pol. Res. Rev. 2 creates psychological worries. It should be noted that the presence of reduced academic performance should not be attributed to students‘ intellectual problems but the examination situations which create in students tensed minds that serve as factor of poor academic performance. Researchers suggested that between 25 and 40 percent of students experience examination fear. Students who experience examination fear tend to be easily distracted during examinations, hence, experience difficulty in comprehending relatively simple instructions and trouble in organizing and recalling of relevant information. Researches on examination anxiety have the notion that examination anxiety prepares threats for higher institution students. Anxiety symptoms are distributed along a continuum and different symptom levels of anxiety and predict outcomes. Responses consisted of increase heart rate, stress hormone secretion, restlessness, vigilance and fear of potential dangerous environments. In contrast, students that are prone to examination fear have a state of anxiety that results to higher levels of nervousness that are specific to examinations. The symptoms of examination anxiety range from moderate to severe anxiety. Students who exhibit moderate symptoms are able to perform relatively well on examinations. On the other hand, students with severe anxiety experience panic (Cherry, 2012); the common physical symptoms include: headache, upset stomach, feeling of fear, feeling of dread, shortness of breath, sweating, pacing or fidgeting, crying, racing thoughts and blanking out. But to some students, the symptoms are difficult or impossible to handle, making them impossible to focus on examinations. The goal of examinations in higher institutions is to improve the educational process by monitoring the rate of students‘ achievements.

―A Study of Academic Performance of Schools Students in Relations to the School Phobia and Examination Fear.‖ of school students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 1.1 To study the level of academic performance of girls students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 1.2 To study the level of academic performance of boys students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 2. To study the school phobia of school students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 2.1 To study the school phobia of girls students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 2.2 To study the school phobia of boys students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 3. To study the examination fear of school students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 3.1 To study the examination fear of girls students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 3.2 To study the examination fear of boys students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 4. To study the relationship between academic performance and school phobia of school students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 4.1 To study the relationship between academic performance and school phobia of girls students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 4.2 To study the relationship between academic performance and school phobia of boys students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 5. To study the relationship between academic performance and examination fear of school students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 5.1 To study the relationship between academic performance and examination fear of girls students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 5.2 To study the relationship between academic performance and examination

1. The level of academic performance of students of various streams at Kurukshetra is significant average. 1.1 To study the relationship between academic performance and examination fear of girls students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 1.2 To study the relationship between academic performance and examination fear of girls students of various streams at Kurukshetra. 2. The level of school phobia of students of various streams at Kurukshetra is significant average. 2.1 The level of school phobia of girls‘ students of various streams at Kurukshetra is significant average. 2.2 The level of school phobia of boys‘ students of various streams at Kurukshetra is significant average. 3. The level of examination fear of students of various streams at Kurukshetra is significant average. 3.1 The level of examination fear of girls‘ students of various streams at Kurukshetra is significant average. 3.2 The level of examination fear of boys‘ students of various streams at Kurukshetra is significant average. 4. There is no significant relationship between the academic performances of students at Kurukshetra. 4.1 There is no significant relationship between the academic performances of girls‘ students at Kurukshetra. 4.2 There is no significant relationship between the academic performances of boys students at Kurukshetra. 5. There is no significant relationship between the academic performances of school phobia students at Kurukshetra. 5.1 There is no significant relationship between the academic performances of school phobia of girls‘ students at Kurukshetra. 6. There is no significant relationship between the academic performances of examination fear students at Kurukshetra. 6.1 There is no significant relationship between the academic performances of examination fear girls‘ students at Kurukshetra. 6.2 There is no significant relationship between the academic performances of examination fear boys students at Kurukshetra.

Academic performance means performance level of the students. It can be defined as what a student does or achieve at his school. It is common practice to promote students from a lower class to a higher class on the basis of his academic performance. It helps in declaring students successful or unsuccessful, choosing students for various courses and selection students for different jobs. It is the level of learning in a particular area of subject in terms of knowledge, understanding, skill and application usually evaluated by teachers in the form of test scores in their annual examination.

School phobia is a problem that is stressful for children, families, and school personnel. Failing to attend school has significant short and long term effects on children‘s social, emotional, and educational development. It is important to identify problems early and provide appropriate interventions to prevent further difficulties. Assessment and management of school phobia require a collaborative approach that includes the family physician, school staff, parents, and a mental health professional. The term school phobia reflects the terminological and conceptual confusion that has plagued the problem of excessive school absenteeism since it was first introduced as a phobia by Adelaide M. Johnson and her colleagues (1941). Most investigators currently working in the area, therefore, have come to view school phobia as a subset of school refusal behaviour. As a consequence, the more comprehensive term, school refusal behaviour (SRB), has come too preferred over school phobia (Hansen et al. 1998). Even the term SRB has its difficulties, however, as it may be taken to imply a conscious decision on the part of the child to refuse

The limitation of the study is a necessary point research. Because it saves to wastage of time, money, labour and over sources researcher. Therefore, adopted Limitation processes of the study are given below:- 1. The study related to only Sr. Secondary School students, Kurukshetra district of Haryana State, Urban and rural school students only. 2. School Phobia and examination fear in relation to their academic performance of Senior Secondary School Students only. 3. In the present study 600 samples selected 300 male students and 300 female students. 4. 600 samples selected from 200 students Arts, 200 students Commerce and 200 students Science. 5. The sample selected only each division 150 students and each streams 50 students taken each division. 6. The study conducted related to only two variables, Academic performance, School phobia and Examination.

After the selection of the sample, next step was to choose suitable tools for the collection of data. In the present study, the following tools were used for collection of the data: A self-developed Questionnaire was used to collect information of the students. 1. ―School phobia scale‖ Developed by Dr. Asrarul Ghani & Radhika Chaudhary. 2. ―Examination-Fear scale‖ Developed by Dr. Asrarul Ghani Scorning the Date: - According to the annual

For the purpose of analysis of data, the frequencies and percentages were calculated for each item of the Questionnaire of general information. Also the score value and the scale value for each item were calculated in order to determine the rank order of the different items/statements. each item were calculated in order to determine the rank order of the different items/statements.

1. It is found that girls have more school phobia in the comparison of boys students in the Thanesar division in district Kurukshetra. 2. It is found that 20% girls are very high phobia about school in Thanesar division in Kurukshetra district. 3. It is found that 24% girls are high phobia about school in Thanesar division in Kurukshetra district. 4. It is found that 40% girls are moderate phobia about school in Thanesar division in district Kurukshetra. 5. It is found that 18.7% boys are low phobia about school in in Thanesar division in district Kurukshetra. 6. It is found that 24% girls are very high phobia about school in division Pehowa in district kurukshetra. 7. It is found that 6.7% boys are very low phobia in Phowa division in district Kurukshetra. 8. It is also found that 38.7% boys are moderate phobia about school in division Phowa in Kurukshetra division. 9. It is also found that 17.3% boys are fall in the category of low phobia about school in division Pehowa in Kurukshetra division. 10. It is found that only 2.7% girls are fall in the category of very low phobia about school in Pehowa division in district Kurukshetra. 11. It is found that 16% girls are very high phobia about school in district Shahabad in district Kurukshetra. 12. It is found that 29.3% girls are high phobia about school in district Shahabad in district Kurukshetra. 13. It is found that only 12% boys are very low phobia about school in district Kurukshetra. 14. It is also found that 40% girls are fall in the moderate phobia about school in the

15. It is found that only 4% girls fall in the low phobia about school in division Shahabad in Kurukshetra district. 16. It is found that boys‘ numbers are less in the comparisons of girls in the category of very low phobia about school in division Ladwa in district Kurukshetra. 17. It is found that boys‘ numbers are less in the comparisons of girls in the category of high phobia about school in division Ladwa in district Kurukshetra. 18. It is found that 21.3% girls are very high phobia in the comparison of boys in the division Ladwa in district Kurukshetra. 19. It is found that 21.3% boys are low phobia in division Ladwa in district Kurukshetra. 20. It is found that a large numbers of boys are fall in the category moderate phobia about school in ladwa division in the comparison of other divisions in district Kurukshetra. 21. It is found that a large numbers of boys are fall in the category of very high phobia about school in Shahabad division in the comparison of other divisions in district Kurukshetra. 22. It is found that a large numbers of boys are fall in the category of high phobia about school in Pehowa division in the comparison of other divisions in district Kurukshetra. 23. It is found that a large numbers of boys are fall in the category of moderate phobia about school in Ladwa division in the comparison of other divisions in district Kurukshetra.

Objectives of a research work are pre-planned with the help of which investigator complete their goal is very essential in a research work that, it is given a final form by the help of facts on the basis of result and by the calculation and analysis find conclusions are derived. Conclusions are generalized so that common person can understand and reliability, validity increases. In an education research such conclusions are very important. This is an important point of research. It is very important to confused the study the main finding of this study are explain in this point this is very important of the researcher/ investigator. Because of the final conclusion he/she is not able to system of the school.

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Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Education, IASE Deemed To Be University, Sardarshahar, Churu, Rajasthan