GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEMISTRY ACHIEVEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF MUZAFFARABAD, AZAD JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Abstract

This paper investigates gender differences in chemistry results of public secondary schools in Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir. The ninth-grade board results were data from the 17 public schools operating in the Muzaffarabad Municipal Corporation area, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. A sample size of 300 students was drawn using a stratified random sampling technique from these schools. Researchers used an independent t-test sample for a comparative study of the chemistry results for selected students. The P-value for boys was 0.13, and the P-value for girls was 0.10, below the significance level. The study findings revealed that girls performed significantly higher in secondary school chemistry than boys. This research study is the first of its kind in the Azad Kashmir region, making way for large-scale studies of similar nature in Azad Jammu and Kashmir to develop a research database for an underreported and understudied region in the future.