This study was aimed at investi gating the practice and the major challenges of school-Basedrntutorial program provided for female students of the primary level second cycle (grade 5 - 8)rngovernmental schools of Addis Ababa.rnIn conducting the study ,a descriptive survey method was employed in order to obtain pertinentrninformation concerning the current state of school based tutorial programs provided for primaryrnlevel second cycle (grade 5-8 ) female students in Addis Ababa. Randomly selected samplerngovernment schools (N= 8) were included in the stud y. Since tutorial participant female students,rnteachers and parents are the appropriate and knowledgeable bodies to respond to the problem ofrnthe school-based tutorial program, using a stratified sampling technique 3 sub-ci ties of the 10 andrn8 schools of the 3 randomly selected sub-cities are included in the study.rnHence, 190 students, 90 parents and 45 teachers were invo lved in the study by filling thernquestionnaires to provide first hand info rmation. Besides, 8 school tutorial coordinators, 8 subcityrneducation otTtce focal persons and I city education bureau expert with 8 teachers ( amongrnthose 45 teachers fi lling the questiolUlaire) were participat ing in the study through interview.rnQuantitative data collecting format was also employed in order to secure quantitative data.rnMoreover documents showing the three and four consecutive years Engli sh and Mathematicsrnresults of tutorial parti cipant female students who are fo und at grade 7 and 8 in the year 1999 E.Crnare also co llected for the purpose of statistical analysis. Data analysis was made by usingrnpercentage, average and line charts that shows the trends of stude nt's academic results.rnThe study revealed that the tutori al program was offered only to female students of grade 5-8 111rn3 su bjects i.e. (Engli sh ,Mathematics and integrated science) for grade 5 and 6; and five subjectsrn(Engli sh ,Mathematics ,Physics, Biology and Chemistry) for grade 7 and 8 .The tutorial programrnrun at the end of the week on Saturday and each sess ions lasting 21m 30 minutes to 3 hI's 20rnminutes for grade 5 and 6 ;and grade 7 and 8 respecti ve ly. However, in few schools the sessionrnlasts for 2hours and 15 minutes to 3hours and 45 minutes. The average proportions of eligiblernfemale students who are participating in the tutori al program are 48.9 percent of the total. Andrnmore male teachers 76 percent than female teachers 24 percent were participating in the programrnrnrnas a tutor; and almost all tutors are fulfilling the requirement that havi ng a diploma to rn teach inrnprimary level second cycle.rnThe study also revealed that the tutorial program was organized by one coordinator in eachrnschool and the role of parents, PTU members, Kebele Education Team leaders, Sub-cityrnEducation officials and City Education Bureau Expert were found insignificant. Tutees and tutorsrnare se lected for the program using a certain criteria and these criteria were emanate from the cityrned ucation bureau and employed in each school non-uniformly. The total situation of the tutorialrnprogram seems run in a loosely organized way.rnMoreover, the tutorial program has believed to be improving students' academic achievement. Inrnthis regard the tutorial participant students scores in Engli sh and Mathematics was not foundrnimproving from year-to-year though almost all students scored an average score of 69 and above,rnwhich is sati sfactory by the Ethiopian school standards.rnThe major challenges of the tutorial program were the attendance problems of students, low levelrnof parental participation, and absence of training for tutors on the methodology of tutoring andrnloosely organized tutorial program among others.rnFinally, in general, the study discussed the general situation of the tutorial program offered forrnthe primary level second cycle female students of Addis Ababa and the major chall enges thernprogram faced such as the problem of attendance, absence of training on the methodology ofrntutoring for tutors and provide the possible so lutions like increasing participation rates, providingrntraining on the methodology of tutoring for tutors and the like that might be employed tornimprove the tutorial practice