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TEACHER PREPARATION TOWARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
NATIONAL SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY (NSHP) FOR NIGERIA PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
SCHOOLS
BY
OYERINDE, O.O., Ph.D., OLAITAN, O 'Lanre, Ph.D., DOMINIC, O.L., M.Ed.
ONIYANGI, S.O., Ph.D. & IBRAHEEM, T.O., M.Ed.
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN KINETICS AND HEALTH EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN,
NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
This paper examined Teacher Preparation Towards the Implementation of the
National School Health Policy (NSHP) for Nigerian Primary and Secondary Schools.
A Multistage sampling Technique was used to select 244 teachers from both primary
and secondary schools across the senatorial districts in Nigeria. The hypotheses
formulated were tested using t-test statistics at x -- 0.05 leyel of significance. All the
hypotheses tested t ~ 0.026, t = 1.887, t~l.274 and t = J.026 were accepted showing
that no significant differences existed between the teachers of Primary and Secondary
Schools based on level of preparedness, training, accessibility to health teaching
facilities and resources, as well as beneficials of intersectorial and interministerial
partnership towards implementation of N.S.H.P. respectively. Although, more
Secondary Schools teachers go for training have more facilities, enjoy intersectoral
collaboration and better prepared than the Primary School teachers, the teaching of
Health Education is more in the Primary Schools. They enjoy more multinational
collaboration and have more access to the N.S.H.P. and Health Education manuals
than the Secondary Schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended that
government should place more emphasis on the teaching of Health Education at both
Primary and Secondary Schools, Health campaigns that will promote health and
fitness should be incorporated in the Primary and Secondary Schools curricula and
teachers at all levels should be encouraged to update their knowledge on Health
Education to be able to inculcate such into the students in tune with the stipulations of
the National School Health Policy..
KEYWORDS
Teacher preparation, National School Health Policy, intersectorial and
interministerial partnership, Health education.
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INTRODUCTION
A nation's development is often rightly measured by the overall health of
its citizens derived from the degree and extent of its socio-cultural, socioeconomic, political and educational improvement. To ascertain the healthy
growth of a people, the nation's educational policy must be all-embracing and
take cognizance of a multi-disciplinary approach towards the achievement of its
educational objectives. It is this factor that the contemporary National Policy on
education took into consideration when it formulated its current policy.
Adaralegbe in National Policy on Education (2003) highlighted this by stating
that it is the government's way of achieving that part of the National objectives
that can be achieved with assistance of education.
As part of its seriousness, the policy insists that the quality of instruction
at all levels must be oriented towards including the following values:
* Respect for the worth and dignity of the individual;
* Faith in men's ability to make rational decisions;
* Moral and spiritual values in inter-personal and human relations;
* Shared responsibility for the common good of society;
* Respect for the dignity of labor and
* Promotion of the emotional, physical and psychological health of all
children.
The above points are widening enrichment of the school curriculum in order
to achieve the nation's objectives, and a revised structure of the educational
ladder to make the widening of the curriculum effective and efficient. In context
therefore, the policy introduces children to health activities in a general way
especially when it is noticed that the national policy indicated that for health and
physical wellbeing to be meaningful at the primary level of the ladder,
government through the ministry of education, must strive to ensure that school
authorities maintain a high degree of sanitation in the school environment. It is
also recorded that emphasis is to be placed on great vigilance to fight the rising
incidence of drug abuse in schools. The policy further expressed willingness to
rigorously enforce laws against all forms of abuse and newly directed
campaigns and education of the people on the dangers of drug abuse.
The policy statements expressed above, coupled with the fact that there is
practically no country in the world today which is not beset with one health
problem or another, makes health education imperative in schools. Nigeria, as a
developing country, has her own peculiar health problems. In this regard,
Ajisafe (1980) summed up the peculiar health problems of the Nigerian child to
be rooted in the following.
1.
Present health practices are poor;
2.
Technological advancement has produced new and complex additions to
which children and their parents must learn to adjust their mode of
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living;
3.
Superstitious beliefs about many diseases have led to the
development of unhygienic practices;
4.
The traditional attitude towards illness which prevents people from
making adequate use of physicians and at times seeking advice from
medical quacks has resulted in incalculable damage to many lives.
Children need health education to caution them against the pitfalls of
medicine received from untrained doctors; and
5.
The medical practitioners themselves have little direct opportunity to
educate the general public and children in particular.
With the afore highlighted issues, it is no wonder that the Federal
Ministry of Health in collaboration with United Nations Education Fund
(UNICEF) took the historic and most welcome step early in the 2000's to
formulate an enduring national policy on a Skill-based health education for
schools in Nigeria. To the delight of school health educators this policy was
finally approved in November, 2006.
Under the provision of the newly approved policy on a-skill- based
health education, it was noted that the defunct Nigerian Education Research and
Development Council (NERDC) and the defunct Comparative Education Study
and Adaptation Centre pioneered roles in producing the Physical and Health
education curricular for primary schools among other subjects in the 1980' s.
Though the current policy also noted the fact that evidence abounds that health
education as teaching subject is taught at different levels of the nation's
educational system and the certain structure and services put in place to take
care of the school community, there has been no defined policy on school
health. Hence the National Policy on Health Education was developed to put in
place a national frame work for the formulation, co-ordination, implementation
and effective monitoring and evaluation of school health program and services,
taking into consideration what roles to be played by the different stakeholders
and agencies.
The National School Health Policy (NSHP) presents the sum of total of
government's commitments and efforts to the promotion of global health and
development, internationally and nationally agreed programs and strategies such
as Health for All (HFA) declaration, Millennium Development Goals (MDG's),
National Economic Empowerment and development strategies (NEEDS),
Focusing Resources on Effective School Health (FRESH), Education For All
(EFA) and the Universal Basic Education act (2004) are all given life in the
present school health Education Policy.
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STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Teacher Education is central to the implementation of the National
Education Policy and indeed the School Health Policy. Past efforts reveal that
government's belief in the preparation of a sound teacher is incontrovertible.
The teachers training programme policies, that is, Teachers grades two (TC I I )
certificate leading to the National Certificate in Education (NCE) and finally the
B.Ed, degree are clear evidences of government's commitment to teacher
education. In the days of the nation's economic boom, it was possible to pass
through these stages on scholarship, bursary and in-service training with pay.
In recent times, government has declared that all teachers must be
certified by the Teachers registration Council as a follow up of its dreams for
excellent teachers. These efforts not withstanding, it is not sure if teachers in
Nigeria Primary and Secondary Schools are both aware and prepared towards
the implementation of the National School health Policy. The National School
Health Policy is the framework for the proper and effective teaching of Health
Education. The policy was prepared and approved by the Federal Ministry of
education in collaboration with the UNICEF in 2008.
The study therefore evaluated teachers' preparedness and preparation
towards the implementation of the National School Health Policy in the primary
and secondary schools of Kwara State.
Research Hypotheses
1.
2.
3.
4.
There is no significant difference in the level of preparedness for the
implementation of National School Health Policy between Kwara State
primary and secondary school teachers.
There is no significant difference in the training towards the
implementation of National School Health Policy between Kwara
primary and secondary school teachers.
There is no significant difference in the accessibility to health teaching
facilities and resources for the implementation of National School Health
Policy among Kwara primary and secondary school teachers.
There is significant difference in the beneficial of intersectorial and interministerial partnership towards the implementation of National School
Health Policy among Kwara primary and secondary school teachers.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of the study is to asses the state of teachers'
preparation and preparedness for the implementation of the National School
Health Policy in Kwara State.
Specifically, the study was to:
i.
Evaluate teachers training and re-training towards the implementation of
the National School Health Policy
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11. Assess Health teaching facilities towards resource materials for teachers
towards the implementation of the National School Health Policy
iii. Assess the level of intersectorial and inter-ministerial collaboration for
teachers towards the implementation of the National School Health
Policy
Materials and Methods
The study population comprised 244 Primary and Secondary School
Teachers selected through a multistage sampling technique from all the states in
South West Nigeria. From Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States 14 Primary
and 26 secondary schools teachers were selected respectively, and from Lagos
state 16 Primary and 28 Secondary School Teachers were selected. The majority
were Secondary School Teachers (65%). A questionnaire with 44 items was
designed by the researchers based on the NSHP and NPE in Nigeria to collect
data from the teachers. It contained structured questions to provide teachers,
bio-data, and level of preparedness, training, facilities and resource materials, as
well as intersectorial and interministerial partnerships for the implementation of
the NSHP. It was designed in English which is understood by the respondents
and pre-tested before using it as a tool. The researchers employed six research
assistants, who were trained, and they distributed and retrieved the
questionnaire in October and November 2009. Data processing was done using
SPSS version 16,0 with t-test statistics at <x = 0.05 level of significance. Results
and Discussion
The results of the study are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below:
Table 1: Bio-Data of the Respondents
N = 244
Characteristics
States
Oyo
Ogun
Ondo
Osun
Ekiti
Lagos
Total
Gender
Male
Female
Age (Years)
21-30
31-40
41-50
Number
Primary School
Secondary School
14
26
14
26
14
26
14
26
14
26
16
28
86 (35%)
158 (65%)
Percentage (%)
16.4
16.4
16.4
16.4
16.4
18.0
121
123
49.6
50.4
41
101
73
16.8
41.4
29.9
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Location
Urban
Rural
29
11.9
207
37
84.8
15.2
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Table 2: t-test analysis on teachers' preparedness, training, facilities and
resources availability, and beneficial form intersectorial partnership.
N = 244
Variables
No.
Crt.
Decision
School
Cal. T- Df
value
on Ho
type
value
Preparedness
Primary
86
0.026
242
1.96
Accepted
Secondary 158
Training
1.887
242
1.96
Accepted
Primary
86
Secondary 158
1.274
242
1.96
Accepted
Facilities and Primary
86
Secondary
resources
158
86
1.026
242
1.96
Accepted
Intersectorial & Primary
interministerial Secondary 158
P<0.05
On the bio-data of the respondents, all the teachers in the sample came
from South West Nigeria, from Oyo (16.4%), Ogun (16.4%), Ondo (16.4%),
Osun (16.4%), Ekiti (16.4%) and Lagos (18%). There are 49.6% male and
50.4% female, 35.2% from Primary Schools and 64.8% from Secondary
Schools, their age ranges from 21-60 years and 84.8% from urban while 15.2%
came from rural area (table 1).
The hypothesis that, there is no significant difference on the level of
preparedness for the implementation of NSHP between Primary and Secondary
School Teachers in South West Nigeria was accepted with the calculated t-value
of 0.026 at df 242 at oc = 0.05 level of significance, which means in the level of
preparedness of the teachers, no difference existed between Primary and
Secondary School Teachers in South West Nigeria, the result however shows
that their level of preparedness is far below the report of MGDs on education
that the teachers regardless of there level should be adequately prepared for the
task of the profession (USE 2004). Also, the hypothesis which states that
there is no significance difference in the training towards the
implementation of NSHP between Primary and Secondary School Teachers in
South West Nigeria was accepted with the calculated t-value of 1.887 at df 242
at oc = 0.05 level of significance, which means no significant difference existed
in the training of teachers at the two levels of teaching. This is line with the
National Policy on Education (NPE) (2003) which states that the teachers at
all levels shall be expected to possess teaching qualifications in other to be a
professional teacher
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in Nigeria (table 2). As regards the hypothesis on whether significant differences
existed between the Primary and Secondary School teaching facilities and
resources for the implementation of NSHP in South West Nigeria, the calculated
t-value of 1.274 shows that the hypothesis was accepted at <x = 0.05 level of
significance. This is because, a scrutiny of both Primary and Secondary School
Teachers should that they have no access to facilities and resources to implement
NSHP in their various schools (table 2). On whether significant difference
existed between the Primary and Secondary School Teachers in the partnership
towards implementation of NSHP, the calculated t value of 1.026 at cc = 0.05
level of significance was obtained. Which means that there is no difference in the
responses of both Primary and Secondary School Teachers on intersectorial and
interministerial partnership (table 2). They both claimed that, they do not benefit
from any intersectorial and interministerial partnership towards the
implementation of NSHP in South West Nigeria. Conclusions and
Recommendations
Though no significant differences existed between Primary and
Secondary School Teachers in South West Nigeria in connection with the
hypotheses formulated on NSHP, the responses were more of negative
responses than positive ones, which means if those things necessary were made
available, it will turn around the attitudes of teachers towards the
implementation of NSHP in South West Nigeria. Health Education as a subject
is not in the curriculum of Secondary School and so no teacher teaches it as a
core subject at that level, whereas, in the Primary Schools the teachers claimed
that they teach Health Education as a core subject and also in correlation with
other subjects such as family living home economics and integrated science.
However, the Secondary School Teachers said that they are more exposed to
training than the Primary School Teachers in that a few of them have higher
degrees and so, they are allowed to go for training through workshops and
seminars, though, insignificantly. This may be the reason why no significant
difference existed between the two groups.
Based on the findings, it was recommended that the government should
intensify the inclusion of Health Education as a core subject into the Secondary
School curriculum, so as to be able to realize the objective of MDGs on
Education and to properly implement NSHP in Nigeria. Also, teachers of both
Primary and Secondary Schools should be exposed to training and retraining, on
School Health Program so as to inculcate this in the students to achieve the
objective of NSHP in Nigeria. Students should be encouraged to undertake this
subject as a core, so as to be able to make them fit and healthy, physically,
mentally, socially, and emotionally.
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