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The main purpose of this study was to determine school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs, the level of achievement of these students and the relationship between the two variables.

A quantitative methodology comprising a questionnaire instrument was utilized to collect data from 239 underprivileged students attending schools in Kelantan, Malaysia. Descriptive statistics comprising mean values and standard deviations were calculated to determine school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs and the level of achievement of these students. Inferential statistics comprising a Pearson correlation was calculated to determine the relationship between the two variables.

School leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs was high, whereas the achievement of underprivileged students was moderate. A weak positive relationship was observed between the two variables.

The sample was limited to 15–16-year-old students in one state in Malaysia. Further research is therefore needed on samples from across Malaysia. This paper enhances knowledge of the relationship between school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs and the level of achievement of these students. This study also has implications for Maslow's human needs theory.

The implications of the findings for school management practices are that an ability to manage underprivileged students' needs can increase the level of achievement of these students. The findings also indicate that adhering to Sustainable Development Goals, the Malaysian Education Blueprint and the Eleventh Malaysian Plan to ensure quality education for underprivileged students is relevant and should be continued. The findings can also be used as input in training school leaders.

The findings suggest that the community needs to take more responsibility for underprivileged students, especially in managing their needs, in order to increase the achievement. The findings can usefully be employed to reduce the social gap between underprivileged and privileged groups.

This is the first study to examine the relationship between school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs and the students' achievement.