KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS SANITATION IN ESTAKO WEST LGA, EDO STATE

Abstract

The study was undertaken to assess the knowledge and attitude of secondary school students in Estako West LGA towards sanitation practice. Three research questions were raised and one hypothesis tested at 0.05 alpha levels. Various literatures were reviewed related to the study. This research utilized descriptive research design. This technique was used for reasons that it takes into consideration the heterogeneous nature of the population to be sampled. The population of this study includes all secondary school students in Estako West LGA. A purposive sampling technique was used for the study; 150 respondents were purposively selected to determine the sample that represents the entire population. However 105 questionnaires were retrieved successfully hence a return rate of 70%. Frequencies, percentages, meanand standard deviation (SD) were the statistics used to take decision on various research questions. The study revealed that majority of the respondents have high knowledge of sanitation among students in Estako west LGA; majority of the respondent agreed that the use of hand disinfectant is better than hand washing with soap, that proper hand hygiene prevents severe infections like cold, noro-virus, Hepatitis A and viral meningitis, that practice of school center waste management is not important to them, that buying fruits and vegetables without plastic packaging is necessary to them, there is a weak positive correlation between sanitation attitude and their knowledge of sanitation which is significant at 0.05. From the findings in the study, it can be recommended that the school management should intensify effort in encouraging and providing improved coverage on sanitation in the school through regular inspection of sanitary condition.