INSECURITY AND COPING STRATEGIES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ABIA STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

This study examined insecurity and coping strategies in public secondary schools in Abia State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study which adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was four hundred and twenty-nine thousand, seven hundred and twenty-six (429, 726) students, teachers and secondary school principals in Public Secondary schools in Abia State. A sample of eight hundred and seventy (870) respondents comprising of sixty-two (62) principals, three hundred and twelve (312) teachers and four hundred and ninety-six (496) secondary school students was drawn via stratified random sampling technique from the three educational zones in Abia State. A questionnaire instrument entitled: “Insecurity and Coping Strategies in Public Secondary Schools in Abia State Questionnaire (ICSPSSASQ)” designed by the researchers was used for data collection. The instrument which had 30 items was well validated and the reliability test yielded 0.82 through Cronbach Alpha method. Data collected were analysed using criterion mean of 2.50, mean, standard deviation, rank order and mean set. While the null hypotheses were tested with z-test at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that participation in security workshops; rejection of postings to schools in areas with high risk of insecurity and employment of self defensive measures are some of the strategies adopted by teachers. Obeying school rules and regulations; reporting suspicious people/movement to school authorities and avoiding lonely places/roads are some of the strategies adopted by the students. The coping strategies adopted by school management include creating safety plans in their schools; providing visitors book at the school gate, and the introduction of security education as one of the subjects for students. Based on the findings, conclusion was drawn and the following recommendations amongst others were made: adequate number of well trained security personnel should be employed to guide public secondary schools in Abia State; and school authorities should provide online classes for their students to make up for classes missed as a result of insecurity.