Boys’ underachievement: Causes and strategies

AbstractBoys’ underachievement has been a much discussed and debated topic and poses as a major challenge to the education system. It is currently a universal phenomenon which leads educators and parents to find ways to assuage this problem. The present paper reports the preliminary research results on boys’ underachievement under the GUP (General University Proposal) Grant at the National University Malaysia. The paper looks into the perceptions of educationists on the causes of boy's underachievement and forward implications for educational policy and practice. The sample included 300 Malaysian secondary school teachers who have five years of experiences or more in the urban areas. The main findings indicated that boy's underachievement's were related to both extrinsic and intrinsic factors