Moderating Role of Resilience in the Relationship Between Poverty and Academic Achievement Among Secondary School Students in Zamfara State

Poverty is one of the most pervasive contextual threats to academic achievement in Northern Nigeria, yet resilience has been proposed as a protective variable capable of buffering its negative academic effects. This study examined the moderating role of resilience in the relationship between poverty and academic achievement among secondary school students in Zamfara State, North West Nigeria. A descriptive correlational design was used, with 420 students from ten secondary schools selected through cluster sampling. The Student Resilience Scale (SRS), the Household Poverty Assessment Scale, and students' annual academic scores were used as data sources. Moderated regression analysis was conducted. Findings confirmed a significant negative relationship between poverty and academic achievement. Resilience significantly moderated this relationship, with high-resilience students demonstrating significantly less academic impact from poverty than low-resilience counterparts. Specifically, social connectedness and future-orientation dimensions of resilience were the strongest buffers. The poverty-achievement relationship was stronger in rural schools than urban ones, even after controlling for resilience. The study concludes that counselling programmes in Zamfara State should prioritise resilience-building interventions, particularly in rural schools. Recommendations included school-based resilience training programmes, community-based academic support clusters, and advocacy for poverty-sensitive educational policies in Zamfara State. Keywords: resilience, poverty, academic achievement, secondary school, Zamfara State.