Social-Emotional Competence: A Comparative Study of Pakistani Muslim and Non-Muslim Secondary School Students

Social-emotional competence plays a vital role in forming students’ emotional regulation, social skills, motivation, engagement, and overall academic performance. This paper aims to explore the social-emotional competence of Pakistani Muslim and Non-Muslim secondary school students. This research study was descriptive in nature and employed a survey technique. The main objective was to compare the social-emotional competence of Pakistani Muslim and Non-Muslim students based on their gender and religion. All secondary school students of the Punjab Province of Pakistan formed the population and a sample of 800 students was selected from four divisions of the Punjab province through purposive sampling technique. An adapted research tool with 25 items was used to collect data from the students. This tool demonstrated appropriate validity and reliability in the literature. However, the researchers also obtained expert opinions for validity and conducted pilot testing for reliability. The value of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was found to be (α = .72). The data were collected by the researchers, and descriptive and inferential statistics were used to answer the research objectives. Based on the statistical outcomes, this research revealed significant differences in social-emotional competence based on gender and religion. Students of the Muslim religion had higher social-emotional competence compared to students of other religions. Female students had better social-emotional competence compared to male students. This research recommends that, to enhance emotional regulation, social skills, motivation, engagement, and academic performance, a social-emotional learning (SEL) framework should be incorporated into the current curricula to develop social-emotional competence in all students.