Zeinab M. Monir¹, Ebtissam M. Salah El-Din¹, Inas R. El-Alameey^1*, Gamal A. Yamamah², Hala S. Megahed¹, Samar M. Salem¹, Tarek S. Ibrahim¹

¹Child Health Department, Medical Division, National Research Centre, Egypt; ²Pediatric Department, Medical Division, National Research Centre, Egypt

BACKGROUND: Population of South Sinai has suffered from negligence for many years. Solving educational problems of this population is the main concern nowadays.

AIM: To assess academic achievement in primary school children in South Sinai in relation to intelligence and psychosocial profile.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted on 407 Bedouin and urban students randomly selected from twelve public primary schools in six cities in South Sinai. Intelligence was assessed using Goodenough-Harris test. The midyear Arabic language and Arithmetic scores were used to assess academic achievement. The teachers completed a Pediatric-Symptom Checklist for evaluation of children behaviour.

RESULTS: A statistically significant difference in academic achievement (P < 0.001), total psychosocial scores, (P < 0.05), and externalization (P < 0.05) was found between urban and Bedouin students with significant gender differences (P < 0.05). Highly significant positive correlations were observed between IQ percentile and mid-year Arabic language scores and Arithmetic scores (P < 0.001), and significant negative correlations with the total score of PSCL and its subscale scores (externalising, inattention, and internalising behaviour) (P < 0.001) among the students.

Citation: Monir ZM , Salah El-Din EM, El-Alameey IR, Yamamah GA, Megahed HS, Salem SM, Ibrahim TS. Academic Achievement and Psychosocial Profile of Egyptian Primary School Children in South Sinai. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. http://dx.doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2016.111
Keywords: South Sinai; Academic Achievement; Psychosocial Profile; Primary school children; Egypt.
*Correspondence: Inas R. El-Alameey. National Research Center, Child Health Department, Cairo, Egypt. E-mail: inasno@hotmail.com
Received: 20-Jul-2016; Revised: 20-Sep-2016; Accepted: 23-Sep-2016; Online first: 16-Oct-2016
Copyright: © 2016 Zeinab M. Monir, Ebtissam M. Salah El-Din, Inas R. El-Alameey, Gamal A. Yamamah , Hala S. Megahed, Samar M. Salem, Tarek S. Ibrahim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This research was funded by the European Union (EU) as a collaborative research with the National Research Center in Egypt.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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