Pervading the Nigerian polity is the pauperization of the populace. The poverty problem manifests in highly unequal income distribution and differential access to basic necessities of life which have telling effects in ghetto neighborhoods where the signs of poverty are highly visible in all facets of life. This study sought to find the impact of deprivations in childhood on the academic performance of secondary school students in ghetto areas in Lagos, Nigeria. Four hypotheses were postulated for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample 250 students from 42 ghetto secondary schools. The instrument for data collection was a 20-item questionnaire, "DFYLCQ" (Deprivations in Formative Years and Life Chances Questionnaire). The test and retest scores of the sample were correlated using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and the reliability of 0.85 was obtained. Findings show that there is a significant difference between the extent of deprivation experienced in the formative years between ghetto public secondary school students and private secondary school students and there is a significant difference between the extent of deprivations experienced in the formative years when examined among secondary school students whose fathers are of different educational status. (Contains 7 tables.)