The Impact of Physical Fitness on Academic Performance of Grade Five School Children: Case Study

Abstract

The main purpose of the study is to compare grade five student’s academic performance with their physical fitness. The grade five scholarship examinations has become a highly competitive examination in Sri Lanka. Due to the higher level of competition many parents push their children to attend to tuition classes. All extracurricular and leisure activities are on hold and the child is forced to do studies for long hours. Data was collected from 40 students (24 males and 16 females) during the 2014 school year to compare the relationship between their academic performances and the physical fitness. Physical fitness was measured by using the “President’s challenge physical fitness test” (PCPFT) and three model papers on grade five scholarship examination were used to evaluate the academic performance. It was found that there is a significant positive correlation between physical fitness levels except for one test in PCPFT: curl ups test and scores of model papers. Among the five physical fitness tests in the PCPFT, the highest positive correlation with the scores obtained for academic papers was obtained in the shuttle run. Overall results concludes the alternative hypothesis of a “significant relationship between physical fitness scores based on PCPFT and academic performance based on scores of model papers on grade five scholarship examination for fifth graders at the participation school” is true.

Key words: Physical fitness, Academic performance