The government of Somaliland has increased budget allocation for education to enhance the quality of education. Despite this, there have been little efforts to discover the causes of “declining academic achievement of pupils in public primary schools in Somaliland”. In this way, this study investigated the “determinants of academic performance of pupils in public primary schools in Somaliland”. The objectives were to examine the effect of teacher quality, school facilities, school leadership and student ability affect on the “academic performance of pupils in public primary schools in Somaliland.
Guided by the Theory of Production Function Approach, this study used mixed methods approach. The target population of this study were students, teachers, and principals of public primary schools in Somaliland. The sample size was 454 participants; 394 students chosen randomly using stratified sampling, 40 teachers and 20 principals with interview guide selected using purposive sampling across the country. Employed by structured questionnaire and interview guide, quantitative data was analysed using independent t test, regression and Pearson correlation while qualitative data was analysed used thematic analysis.
Findings revealed that teacher quality and school facilities have significant effect on academic performance. The study also revealed student ability had no influence on the performance. Qualitative data results revealed that principals were not familiar with instructional leadership and were busy with student attendance, hygiene and student uniform. The study recommends the Ministry of Education to undertake policy review on the pre-service teacher training guidelines and adopt policies on innovative professional development programs. The study also recommends to allocate adequate budget for public primary schools by creating school capitation policies.