Self-concept may be understood as a perception every human has of himself or herself. It is a component of personality development and indicates who we are and how we fit into the world. self-concept is a set of perceptions or reference points that the subject has about himself, a set of characteristics, attributes, qualities and deficiencies, capacities and limits, values and relationships that the individual knows to be descriptive of himself and which he perceives as data concerning his identity. As every single individual has his own individuality so, they believe different about themselves. Individuals choose their own ways to understand themselves. They can explore the qualities and capabilities they possess and how can they perform accordingly. These biased words about oneself, once created take part in influential role in individual advance growth and maturity. However, academic self-concept is broadly conceptualized as how a student views his/her academic ability when compared with other students. For him/her, to be academically successful individuals must be identified with domain of academics. Academics must be part of their self-concept; more specifically, they must have a positive academic self-concept.

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Self-concept influences students academic performance; however, the level of effort exerted by students in learning to a large extent contributes significantly to students’ self-concept in boosting their academic performance. In view of this, teachers, parents, and indeed all stakeholders have it as a duty to consider various factors that can influence the development of positive self-concept among children when dealing or interacting with them. Also, they must help, monitor and supervise students to exert some level of effort in learning since such effort boost students’ academic performance.

SELF CONCEPT

Self-concept is considered to comprise various dimensions, areas or facets, some of which are more related to certain personality aspects (physical, social, emotional), while others appear to be more linked to academic achievement (in different areas and subjects). Self-concept is the set of perceptions or reference points that the individuals has about himself; the set of characteristics, attributes, qualities and deficiencies, capacities and limits, values and relationships that the individuals knows to be descriptive of himself and which he perceives as data concerning his identity. It is the set of knowledge and attitudes that we have about ourselves; the perceptions that the individual assigns to him and characteristics or attributes that we use to describe ourselves. It is understood to be fundamentally a descriptive assessment and has a cognitive nuance. The importance of self-concept stems from its notable contribution to personality formation. It is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally, self-concept embodies the answer to the question "Who am I?"
It is therefore clear that self-concept is a central construct which develops through interactions with others. It is technologically conceived that it is the locus of the experience that represents the total being whose physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions cannot be separated except artificially. Self-concept includes both descriptive as well as evaluative aspects; self-concept can be differentiated from other constructs which it is related to, such as academic performance.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Academic achievement is student’s accomplishments in a given academic field. It refers to how students become successful in achieving their educational goals. Educational institutions usually maintain record of student’s academic achievement in order to find out whether their current educational policies and styles are working or not, and to decide what kind of changes are required in order to increase student’s academic achievements.
Academic performance is the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects. Teachers and education officials typically measure achievement using classroom performance, graduation rates and results from standardized tests.
Academic achievement or academic performance is the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has attained their short or long-term educational goals. Completion of educational benchmarks such as secondary school diplomas and bachelor's degrees represent academic achievement. Student performance is affected by different factors such as learning abilities, gender and race.

STUDENTS SELF-CONCEPT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Self-concept is defined as the intellectual attitude of personality. It is commonly referred to the complex, planned and self-motivated system of opinions, outlooks, and thoughts that each human comprehends to be accurate practically regarding his survival. Self-concept and academic performance are collaborative and mutual. Each one is equally emphasizing to the degree that any change whether positive or negative in one enables the appropriate variation in the other. Self-concept have great impact on the achievement of students and it helps in determining the level of competence among students’ potentials. She also concluded that the way students behave in academic settings depends upon self-awareness. Individuals approach regarding his/her talents and hidden potentials strengthen his/her belief in self and the individual get better grades in school.
Therefore, the students must first exhibit some level of effort in learning what they have been taught both in the school and at home in order for them to have total development both morally, economically and academically. The effort exhibit in learning what they have been taught will boost their ability to understand and apply what they have been taught appropriately. In the long run, their academic performance will increase significantly.
In other words, if the students who have dedicated enough time in learning what they have been taught are able to imbibe the content as expected, they will be performing well and significantly in their academic work. Therefore, student’s self-concept constructs of religion, physical, social, economic, esteem and educational orientation do not directly predict their academic performance but rather it predict students’ academic performance indirectly through the level of effort exhibited by students in learning.

CONCLUSION

Students with high self-concept are more popular, cooperative and persistent in class work, with low anxiety level, more supportive families and expectations of academic success. However, it should be noted that students with high and positive self-concept needs to interact with other peers and fellow learners in school in order to exchange valuable information, and to maintain high and positive self-concept and academic performance. Thus, more school life activities and experiences influence and determine the development of self-concept and academic performance. In addition, students’ exposure to academic, social, and extracurricular activities within the campus contributes to the development of students’ self-concept and academic performance,
In conclusion, there is a vital, and a positive correlation between self-concept and academic achievement and also they are so linked as one effects the other and vice versa.