Reducing the Spread of HIV/AIDs among the Junior Secondary School Students through Instructions in Social Studies

Abstract

The study investigated the need to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDs through the teaching of Social Studies to the Junior Secondary Schools Students in Nigeria. Also the student’s perception on the influence of the Social Studies instructions they received on HIV/AIDS towards their attitude was investigated. The study was a descriptive study of the survey type. It employed the use of questionnaire to elicit information from the subjects. The population of the study was the junior secondary school students in class three and Social Studies teachers in Ekiti and Ondo States. The samples of the study consist of 200 teachers and 200 junior secondary school students drawn from the two states. Two research questions were raised for the study and two hypotheses were equally generated from the research questions raised. The questionnaire for the teachers had twenty items while that of the students had twenty items all testing the perception of the respondents on the benefits derived from Social Studies instructions and the possibility of reducing the surge as a result of the lessons derived from sex education. These questionnaires were administered to the students and teachers by research assistants who were well trained for the study. The questionnaire was collected and analysed using t- test statistics. The result of the data analysed showed that both the teachers and the students perceived that Social Studies instructions would help them to have insight into human body anatomy and how to avoid contacting the dreaded HIV/AIDS. In addition they learnt how to take care of their health, control their sexual behaviour, and protect themselves from contacting sexually transmitted diseases. The consensus opinion was that Social Studies instructions can help in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS. It was recommended among others that the Social Studies teachers should teach the subject by relating it to real life situation in order to enable the students use the lessons derived in future.