| Summary: | One of the primary goals of schools is to improve the students' learning
performance. Considering the factors associated to students' indigeneity
contributing to their learning performances, this study explored the learning
performances of ‘indigenous’ (Janajati) students in Nepali private secondary
schools. Grounded in Bourdieu's (1986) cultural capital theory, the investigation
employed a two-staged mixed-methods research process. In the first phase,
longitudinal data (grade XII exam results) of 770 students between 2015 and 2019
at a case study school in Kathmandu were obtained and analysed. The quantitative
results yielded from the descriptive analyses revealed that Janajati students, namely
the Tamang, Magar, Gurung, Rai, and Limbu students included in the study, had a
lower academic performance as compared to their non-Janajati counterparts. These
results are consonant with overall national patterns in Nepal. In an attempt to
explain these differences, a sequential qualitative study was undertaken through indepth interviews with five participants (three students and two teachers affiliated to
the case study school from the same indigenous groups). For analytical purposes,
factors influencing students’ performance were grouped into home-related and
school-related themes. The study showed that home-related factors were more
prevalent than the school-related factors in the students with lower learning
performances. While family economic backgrounds and parental education also
had a role to play, cultural factors (such as relative lack of predisposition towards
education and aspiration for different occupations) were the most important factors
influencing lower learning performance.
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