Abstract This study aimed to examine gender differences in the academic performance of students. The differential analysis was done with the view to make comparison between the boys and girls to study the difference due to gender on academic achievement and also on the independent variables taken in the study. The descriptive analysis was done to assess the level of academic achievement in academic subjects in respect of both the Government and Private School students of Classes V and VIII. The present study is essentially a descriptive exploratory survey. The study was carried out in Government and Private Schools affiliated to the Punjab School Education Board, selected from 10 districts of the state. The sample in the present study comprised the students studying in Class V and Class of Government and Private Schools of Punjab. The results of the present study reveal that Parents’ Educational qualification contributes a lot for the academic output of their wards. The coefficient of correlation between the mother’s qualification and the achievement of the students was found to be: 0.209, significant at 0.01 level and the correlation between Father’s qualification and students’ achievement was 0.140, at .01 level of significance in case of Government Schools only. In Government Schools, the performance of the girls was higher than their counterparts (boys) on all the subjects except in Social Science. Out of all the three psychological variables, the Private School students achieved significantly higher in Achievement Motivation and the Total Aptitude than their counterparts in the Government Schools.