Engagement in Leisure Activities and Academic Performance of Primary School Pupils in Enugu East Local Government Area

Abstract

This study determined engagement in leisure activities and academic performance of pupils in Enugu East LGA. A cross-sectional survey research design was employed. The study population was 60,576 pupils in the 474 private schools and 20,874 pupils in the 58 public schools in the study area. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select a sample of 352 pupils. Three specific objectives guided the study. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation and chi-square were used for data analysis. Findings showed that based on mean responses, the following active leisure activities were highly engaged by the respondents; swimming (3.53), visiting (3.27), gardening (3.27), running (2.47), climbing (3.00), dancing (3.00), dramatic play (3.00) and riding bicycle (2.73). Findings also showed that passive activities with very high engagement included writing a story (3.27), sleeping (3.73), playing a musical instrument (3.20), reading books (3.07), drawing and painting (2.47), listening to music (2.40) and playing card games (2.13). Th finding further showed that a greater percentage of them had very high academic performance (66.50%), 33.40% had high academic performance while only 6.50% had an average academic performance. Better academic performance of the pupils was significantly associated with moderate engagement in active leisure activities, but not with engagement in passive leisure activities at p < 0.05 level of significance. It was therefore recommended that more time for engagement in active leisure activities be made available to pupils as it might help them in improving their academic performance.