EDUCATING STUDENTS FOR PEACE, CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PRODUCTIVITY IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE.

Abstract

Peace they say is priceless and terror is senseless. Moreover, no meaningful development can take place in any society where there is no peace. Against this background, the study investigated educating students for peace, conflict resolution and productivity in public secondary schools in Rivers State. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided this study which adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised 7,142 teachers in the 276 public senior secondary schools in Rivers state. A sample of 378 teachers was drawn using Taro Yamane’s formula. This represented 5.3% of the population. A questionnaire titled; “Educating students for Peace, Conflict Resolution and Productivity Questionnaire (ESPCRP)” developed by the researcher was used for data collection. The instrument was well validated and the test of reliability using Cronbach Alpha method yielded a reliability index of 0.81. Mean scores, standard deviation and mean set were used to analyse the research questions while z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.5 level of significance. The results of the study showed that: educating students for peace involves inculcating in them democratic values, human rights and tolerance of our diversities among others. Educating students for conflict resolution include helping students to think from another person’s perspective, effective communication and being empathic while, ways of educating students for productivity include among others: time management, prioritize and plan ahead; and minimizing distractions. Based on the findings conclusion was drawn and among others it was recommended that government should lay great emphasis on educating students for peace, conflict resolution and productivity in order to enhance their sustainable academic development.