Abstract

In recent times in Nigeria, privately owned primary schools have been on the increase against the government owned schools. This study therefore was carried out to compare the academic performance of private and public primary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. A sample of 480 pupils were randomly selected from 24 primary schools in the 6 (six) education district zones in Lagos State. Achievement tests adapted from past common Entrance Examination questions were administered to the selected samples. From the three hypotheses generated it was found that the academic performance of private primary school pupils was significantly different from that of public schools. It was recommended that government should make public education to be of high standard by giving proper attention to the facilities and activities that will enhance academic performance of the pupils in public primary schools.