Role of Co-curricular Activities on Academic Performance of Students: A Case Study in some Secondary Schools of Burdwan District in West Bengal, India

This study attempts to analyze the impact of co-curricular activities of some secondary level school students in Burdwan district of West Bengal. The study covers two hundred students both in urban and rural areas encompassing students consisting of boys' and girls'. The whole students (N=200) were divided into two equal groups: one is experimental and the other is control group. The pre-test and post-test scores were used to evaluate the impact of co-curricular activities on academic score of the students. The present study also covers one hundred teachers and schools' authorities as well as guardians to find out the relationship between co-curricular activities and academic achievement of students. The results of 'Chi-square' test revealed that co-curricular activities have had a significant positive impact on academic level achievement of students. A binary logit regression model has been used to determine the extent of relationship between co-curricular activities and academic achievement of students. Moreover, students'-t test has also been used to examine the assumed hypothesis whether any variation among pre-test and post-test situations within boys' and girls' as well as urban and rural students exist or not. Finally, the result revealed that the students of experimental group showed better performance than the students of control group as a whole.