KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS THE OBSERVANCE OF COVID-19 PROTOCOL IN NJIKOKA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The COVID-19 is the most current public health problem around the world as the disease has affected most countries of the world and no scientific approved medicine for the treatment of this rapidly spreading disease. The only way left to this situation is to slow down or eradicate the spreading by adopting preventive measures. This study examined knowledge and attitude of students towards the observance of covid-19 protocol in public secondary schools in Njikoka local government area of Anambra state, Nigeria. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population
comprises of 4,071 senior secondary students for the 2020-2021 academic session in Njikoka local government area of Anambra State. A sample of 200 students was randomly selected from four out of 12 governments owned coeducational secondary schools in the area.
A multistage sampling technique was used to draw the sample. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire titled knowledge and attitude of secondary school students on covid-19 protocol scale (KASS). The validation was down by three experts, the validity was done through pilot testing and co-efficient gotten was 0.85. Research questions were analyzed using mean responses while t-test was used for hypothesis. The result revealed that there was no significant difference in students’ observance of COVID-19 protocol in the rural and urban areas. It was recommended that the state ministry of education should lay emphasis on the strategies for the prevention and control of COVID-19 to school administrators, and ensure adherence by the students. They should also try as much as possible to disseminate the information to the rural areas.