This thesis discusses how a variety of factors like socio-economic status and educational levels of family/parents affect Std 8 pupils' school performance in twelve selected secondary schools in Thohoyandou, Venda in the Northern Province. It further examines how parents motivate pupils to do well at school, and how the expectations of parents and other relatives as well as teachers as significant others contribute to the academic attainment of pupils.. It also focuses on the favourable conditions in the pupils' learning home environment such as availability of a private study-room, language used at home, adequacy of time for both relaxation and schoolwork, learning facilities, parental involvement and nutritional values that help in promoting and enhancing pupil school performance. Finally, the author provides some recommendations about how parents can actively involve themselves in their children's education. AFRIKAANS : Hierdie tesis bespreek die wyse waarop 'n aantal faktore, soos die sosioekonomiese status en die opvoedkundige peil van die familie/ouers, st. 8 leerlinge se skoolprestasies beinvloed in twaalf geselekteerde skole in Thohoyandou, Venda, in die Noordelike Provinsie. Dit ondersoek ook die wyse waarop ouers leerlinge motiveer om goed te doen op skoal, asook hoe dit wat betekenisvolle mense soos ouers, ooms, tantes en onderwysers van hulle verwag, bydra tot die bereik van die verlangde akademiese sukses van die leerlinge. Dit fokus ook op gunstige toestande in die leerling se tuisomgewing, byvoorbeeld die beskikbaarheid van 'n private studeerkamer, taalgebruik by die huis, genoeg tyd om te slaap en te eet, ontspanning en skoolwerk, leerfassiliteite, ouerlike betrokkenheid en die voedingsvlakke wat help om leerlinge se skoolprestasies aan te moedig en te verbeter. Ten laaste voorsien die outeur ook 'n paar voorstelle oor hoe ouers aktief betrokke kan raak by 'n leerling se opvoeding. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 1997. / Sociology / unrestricted

Measles is a highly contagious virus that can affect the entire population if an effective immunisation programme is not in place. This study was aimed at determining the measles immunisation coverage and the dropout rate among children aged between 6 months and 14 years and at assessing factors associated with caregivers’ knowledge and perception of, and attitude towards the measles immunisation programme. Between 14 May 2018 and 31 July 2018, a descriptive, cross-sectional study design was conducted using simple random sampling to sample 381 caregivers of children at nine public health facilities at Tshwane Sub-district 2, Hammanskraal town. Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire and observational checklist, and analysed using IBM SPSS version 23.0. Overall, the measles immunization coverage was 95.8% (365/381) and the MCV1-MCV2 dropout rate was 4.1%. The association between educational level and employment status (correlation coefficient=0.157**, p=0.0002), measles knowledge (correlation coefficient=-0.244**, p=0.000), immunization importance (correlation coefficient=-0.194**, p=0.000) and measles vaccine schedule (correlation coefficient=-0.138**, p=0.007) were found to be significant at p<0.05. The findings in this study revealed that caregivers’ positive attitude towards, and knowledge of measles immunisation programme resulted in high measles immunisation coverage and low dropout rate. It is recommended that continuous positive immunisation education about the benefits and importance be emphasized in order to increase immunisation uptake. / Health Studies / M. P. H.