{INTERVIEW} Beyond the Headlines: What Is Really Affecting Students' Academic Performance and How Can It Be Addressed?

By Abraham Salawu

Behind every student struggling academically is a story that may not be visible on their report card. While poor examination results are often attributed to laziness, lack of seriousness or inadequate preparation, the actual problems affecting students' academic performance can be much deeper.

In many classrooms, some students struggle to concentrate, understand lessons, complete assignments or retain what their teachers have taught. Others appear physically present during lessons but are mentally disconnected from the learning process.

For some, the problem is excessive engagement with mobile phones and social media. For others, it is the influence of friends, an unfavourable learning environment, emotional difficulties, hunger or pressure from home.

Academic performance is not determined by intelligence alone. It is also influenced by psychological, social, environmental and family-related factors.

To understand these challenges beyond academic records and examination results, The Creativity Site spoke with two secondary school teachers and two students in Ogun State. Their experiences reveal some of the less-discussed circumstances affecting students' ability to learn.

1. Distraction: When Everything Else Becomes More Important Than Learning

One of the major challenges confronting students today is distraction.

The increasing availability of smartphones, social media platforms, online entertainment and video games has created an environment where students can easily lose concentration.

A student who intends to spend 30 minutes studying may end up spending most of that time scrolling through social media, watching videos or chatting with friends.

However, distractions are not always technological. Sometimes, students are distracted by their own thoughts, worries and personal experiences.

Azzez Khalid, a Junior Secondary School Three (JSS3) student in Ogun State, identified thinking about personal issues, which he described as internal noise, alongside hunger as major challenges affecting students' concentration.

Another student, Alade Semilore, a JSS2 student, also identified excessive thinking and hunger as factors that make it difficult for students to concentrate.

These experiences suggest that the problem of distraction goes beyond what students see or hear around them. What occupies their minds can equally determine how much they gain from classroom lessons.

The Solution:

Students must learn to manage their attention deliberately.

Establishing personal study timetables, reducing unnecessary phone usage, avoiding unrelated conversations during lessons and setting specific learning targets can help improve concentration.

Teachers should also make classroom activities more interactive by encouraging questions, discussions, practical demonstrations and active participation.

Parents should establish reasonable rules governing their children's use of electronic devices, particularly during homework and examination preparation.

2. Peer Pressure and Social Exclusion: When Friendship Affects Learning

The influence of friends is another factor that can significantly shape students' attitudes towards education.

During adolescence, students often seek acceptance, recognition and a sense of belonging among their peers. In the process, some begin to adopt behaviours that may conflict with their academic goals.

Some students are discouraged from answering questions in class because their friends might mock them. Others lose interest in academic activities because they want to maintain acceptance within their social circles.

However, peer influence is not always negative. Friends can encourage one another to read, attend classes and pursue academic ambitions.

For Semilore, the problem also includes social exclusion. He identified situations where a friend is deliberately isolated by others, including being told not to associate or play with certain classmates.

Such experiences can affect a student's sense of belonging and emotional well-being, potentially making the classroom less welcoming.

This highlights the importance of recognising that peer-related challenges are not limited to pressure to engage in negative activities. Bullying, rejection and exclusion can also affect students' learning experiences.

The Solution:

Schools should promote positive relationships among students through group assignments, peer-learning activities, reading clubs and collaborative academic competitions.

Teachers should also pay attention to students who are frequently isolated or intimidated by their classmates.

Students must understand that genuine friendship should encourage personal development rather than undermine another person's confidence.

3. Wrong Environment: When Conditions Make Learning Difficult

A student's environment can either support learning or make academic progress unnecessarily difficult.

The environment includes the physical classroom, home, neighbourhood and general atmosphere surrounding the student.

Consider a student who returns home after school only to encounter constant noise, household conflicts, overcrowding or responsibilities that leave little time for studying.

Another may attend school without adequate learning materials or in a classroom where distractions are frequent.

These circumstances can make concentration and effective learning difficult.

The experiences shared by the teachers interviewed also suggest that students' home circumstances deserve greater attention.

Abolade Oluwatoyosi, a secondary school teacher working in Ogun State, identified family struggles and economic difficulties as additional factors that can affect students' academic performance.

Financial challenges can affect access to school materials, feeding, transportation and other basic educational needs.

A student who is constantly worried about family circumstances may find it difficult to concentrate fully on classroom activities.

The Solution:

Schools should prioritise classroom discipline, adequate learning materials, proper seating arrangements and an atmosphere where students feel comfortable participating.

Parents and guardians should provide relatively quiet spaces for reading where possible.

School administrators should also identify students facing serious economic challenges and explore available support systems, including scholarships, feeding assistance and educational materials.

4. Internal Noise: Depression, Emotional Struggles and Inadequate Sleep

Not every distraction comes from outside.

Sometimes, the greatest obstacle between a student and academic success is what is happening inside their mind.

A student may sit quietly in class, look towards the teacher and appear attentive while struggling with anxiety, sadness, family problems, fear or emotional distress.

These challenges can affect concentration, memory, motivation and classroom participation.

Olubiye Victor, a teacher with six years of teaching experience working in Ogun State, identified internal noise, including excessive thinking and emotional depression, as one of the factors affecting students' academic performance.

He explained that some students may be struggling with thoughts and emotional difficulties that are not immediately visible to their teachers.

The students interviewed also reinforced this concern.

Both Azzez Khalid and Alade Semilore identified thinking about personal issues as a major challenge affecting students' concentration.

More concerning is their perception of the communication gap between students and teachers.

When asked whether teachers and parents understand what students experience, both students expressed the view that most teachers do not know what students are going through.

Their responses raise an important question: How many students struggling emotionally are being mistaken for academically unserious learners?

Sleep is another important consideration.

Some students remain awake late into the night watching videos, chatting with friends or playing games. Others struggle with sleep because of stressful home conditions or emotional difficulties.

The consequences may become visible during lessons through reduced alertness, difficulty understanding explanations and an inability to concentrate.

The Solution:

Schools should take students' emotional well-being seriously.

Teachers should learn to recognise changes in behaviour, including withdrawal, persistent sadness, unusual irritability and sudden deterioration in academic performance.

Students experiencing emotional difficulties should be encouraged to speak with trusted adults, qualified school counsellors or appropriate mental health professionals.

Parents should create an atmosphere where children can discuss their worries without immediately facing condemnation or punishment.

Students should also develop healthier sleeping habits and reduce unnecessary screen exposure before bedtime.

5. Parental Influence: When Expectations Become Pressure Instead of Support

Parents play an important role in shaping their children's educational experiences.

From providing learning materials to monitoring school attendance, encouraging reading and creating opportunities for academic development, parental involvement can positively influence students' performance.

However, parental influence can also become a source of pressure when expectations are unrealistic or children's educational needs are overlooked.

Olubiye Victor identified parental influence as one of the major factors affecting students' academic performance.

He explained that some students genuinely want to perform well academically but face challenges at home.

According to him, some parents assign unnecessary household errands to their children, leaving them with little time to study, while others struggle to pay their children's school fees.

These circumstances can affect students' ability to concentrate on their education.

He also highlighted the importance of personal determination, noting that some students refuse to take their education seriously despite the efforts of their parents and teachers.

Drawing from his teaching experience, he observed that some students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds still excel academically, including those who engage in hawking or learn vocational skills while pursuing their education.

His observation highlights an important distinction: although circumstances can influence academic performance, students' attitudes, commitment and determination also matter.

The Solution:

Parents should become active partners in their children's education.

They should communicate regularly with teachers, monitor assignments, attend school meetings and take an interest in their children's academic and emotional development.

Household responsibilities should be distributed reasonably so that children have sufficient time to study and rest.

Parents facing financial difficulties should communicate with school administrators where possible to explore arrangements that will prevent their children's education from being unnecessarily disrupted.

Students, on their part, must understand that their academic future also requires personal commitment.

6. The Missing Link: Communication Between Teachers and Students

Beyond the five major factors, the interviews reveal another issue that deserves attention: the relationship between teachers and students.

When students were asked whether teachers and parents understood the challenges they experienced, both students expressed concern that most teachers were unaware of what was happening in their lives.

This perception suggests that some students may be struggling without knowing how to communicate their difficulties to the adults responsible for guiding them.

Abolade Oluwatoyosi believes that one practical way of addressing academic challenges is to make classrooms more communicative.

According to her, teachers should encourage students to express themselves rather than make lessons entirely one-sided.

This approach can help teachers understand students' difficulties, identify areas of weakness and create opportunities for individual support.

A classroom should not be a place where teachers only deliver information and students passively receive it. It should also be an environment where students can ask questions, express concerns and participate without fear of embarrassment.

Regular conversations between teachers and students can help reveal challenges that examination results alone may not show.

Academic Improvement Requires Collective Responsibility

The challenges affecting students' academic performance cannot be solved by students alone.

While personal discipline, determination and commitment remain important, the responsibility for creating a supportive learning environment is shared among parents, teachers, school administrators and the wider society.

Teachers must go beyond delivering lessons to understanding the different circumstances affecting their students.

Parents must recognise that raising academically successful children requires more than paying school fees and demanding excellent results.

School administrators must create environments that encourage learning, provide appropriate guidance and address issues affecting students' welfare.

Students, on their part, must take responsibility for their choices, manage their time, develop healthy relationships and seek assistance whenever they encounter difficulties.

Academic struggles should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of laziness or a lack of intelligence.

Sometimes, the problem is an environment that does not support learning, an emotional burden that remains unnoticed, an unhealthy friendship, hunger or a distraction that has gradually become a habit.

Conclusion: Look Beyond the Report Card

A report card can reveal a student's academic performance, but it cannot always explain the circumstances behind the figures.

Behind a poor examination result may be a student battling emotional difficulties, struggling with hunger, facing pressure at home or finding it difficult to concentrate in an unfavourable environment.

The experiences shared by the teachers and students interviewed demonstrate why academic performance must be examined beyond examination scores.

Improving education requires more than introducing new examination policies, increasing academic workloads or punishing students for poor results.

It requires understanding the human experiences behind classroom performance.

The most important question should not always be, "Why is this student failing?"

We must also ask, "What is preventing this student from learning, and what can we collectively do to help?"

When schools, parents and students begin to address these underlying challenges, academic improvement becomes more achievable.

Because sometimes, the solution to a student's poor performance does not begin with another lesson. It begins with understanding what is happening beyond the classroom.