The existing gender disparity in academic performance between boys and girls in Namibia poses an academic challenge, as Grades 1–12 from 2012–2019 were in favour of girls, with a high repetition and promotion rate among boys.

A report on 'Namibian Boys: Underachievement and Underparticipation in Education' indicates that self-distracting behaviour and withdrawing from learning activities among the boys are but some of the reasons.

In every 100 graduates, 70% are women.

This is a clear illustration of underachievement among young men, while the study also indicates that female learners in 11 regions perform better than boys.

This trend has mainly been linked to the role of socialisation among men and boys, self-distracting behaviour, as well as lower student enrollment and learning outcomes.

The research conducted in all 14 regions was based on a host of questions to find out what accounts for the disparity in academic performance between male and female learners and students and what its socio-cultural, educational, and social-economic implications are.

Namibia has been advised to go back to the drawing board by creating national awareness about male learner and student under-achievement and under-participation in education.

The data was collected from 4,659 secondary school learners, 528 secondary school teachers, 182 parents, 122 university lecturers, and 807 university and vocational training centre students.