1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Nursery education is the foundation of learning because children who have a weak learning foundation can hardly perform as exceptionally intelligent students in their entire academic life circle. It is at this early stage of learning that children are developed for higher academic exercises. The foundation of education of the child is the preschools education which forms an integral part of his or her early education which may be formal or informal, usually given in an educational institution to children aged 1 to 5+ prior to their entering the primary school. This educational level of the child provides for the physical, motor, health, nutritional, intellectual, aesthetic, emotional and social development of the pre-school child. If child education can provide these vital necessities which are fundamental in human life, it is not therefore unlikely to have an important and strong relationship with the pupils’ performance at the primary school level and perhaps at the secondary and tertiary levels Nakpodia (2011). Learning apart from a very rigorous exercise is procedural. If a child gets a particular step wrong or did not even get it at all, it becomes a very big problem to such a child. This makes nursery education very essential for the overall development of the education sub-sector.
Importantly, it is always the parents' obligation to educate their children. This is in line with sociologist's common argument that education can be a tool for cultural change when it is taught at home. Thus it is not unreasonable to believe that a parent's socioeconomic status has an impact on a child's academic performance in pre-primary school. Whatever influences a student's growth environment may have an impact on their education or attitude toward it. According to Rothestein, parents from various occupational classes often have diverse child-rearing approaches, different ways of disciplining their children, and different ways of reacting to their children. These distinctions do not manifest themselves in every family in the same way; rather, they influence the average tendencies of families for various employment classes (Rothestin 2004).
In keeping with the preceding argument, Hill et al (2004) suggested that a parent's socioeconomic level not only affects academic accomplishment, but also allows students from poor socioeconomic backgrounds to compete well with their peers from high socioeconomic backgrounds in the same academic setting. Furthermore, Smith, Fagan, and Vivund (2002) claimed that parental socioeconomic position was a strong predictor of intellectual success at the age of eight years. Students' socioeconomic situation, as well as a variety of other characteristics linked to their home environment, such as their parents' educational backgrounds, health status, parental employment, and family size, may have an impact on their academic success. The term "socio-economic standing" refers to a person's entire social position, which includes both educational and economic achievement. The social and economic domains also have a role. (Ainley and colleagues, 1995).
The social position or class of an individual or group is frequently referred to as socio-economic status. Individual accomplishment in school, job, occupational position, income, and wealth define socioeconomic standing. Several parents may be able to give their children with better levels of psychological support by creating an atmosphere that encourages the development of skills essential for academic achievement . Education, income, and employment are frequently used to calculate it. Inequalities in resource availability, as well as concerns of privilege, power, and control, are frequently revealed when socioeconomic status is examined. When compared to students from richer socioeconomic backgrounds, children from poor socioeconomic homes gain academic abilities more slowly. The socioeconomic position of the parents influences the rate of scholarship disbursement.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ` The responsibility of training the children is the primary role of the parents, this is because they are the first agent of socialization and this is usually an informal type of education which is being augmented by formal education in school. As a result of this, it is the duty of the parent to send their children to school and also ensure that they are progressing academically. For an pupil belonging to a family of low class income earners, the tendency is that poor foundation might be given in home/mother care, day care, pre-nursery, nursery, primary and secondary schools. The children could not be provided with instructional materials at home and in schools, private lesson could not be organized due to lack of fund. These tends to make the students lack interest in certain areas due to poor foundation and the resultant effect is that is their adolescent stage in senior secondary school examinations, they would not perform well (Williams et al 1980, William 1987, Williams 1993). The reserve is the case with those children belonging to middle and upper class families. The consequent to this, the pupil will lack the skills required of them at their level and it will affect the individual and technological development of the country. Even though there is a general assumption that nursery education is very essential to the academic achievement of primary school pupils, scanty literature exist to provide empirical evidence to support or disprove the impact of parent socio-economic status. Also problematic is the near absence of studies that sample both primary pupils who attended nursery schools and those that did not attend to arrive at a conclusion.Thus compelling the researcher to examine the impact of parental socioeconomic status on nursery school pupils' academic achievement.