SURVEY OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE

ABSTRACT

        This study was carried out to survey the knowledge of primary school pupils on communicable diseases in Kwara State. Two hundred respondents got through the use of purposive random sampling technique were selected from four schools that formed the research population. The instrument used to obtain information for the research was structured questionnaire, while frequency and percentage were used in the analysis.

          Results showed that pupils knew hat communicable diseases were and the causes but many didn’t know the control measures of these diseases.

          Among the recommendations given was that more efforts should be made at this background level of education to bring awareness to pupils on ways to control these diseases.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the study

        The fundamental care that a child requires is the same in all countries of the world. Every child requires to be born all nurtured in a clean and healthy environment as the child subsequently feeds and carries out other activities. The home should provide warmth, love and protection from injury, with every opportunity to learn and grow in a clean and healthy environment. According to Mcseer (2000), the rights of every child should be respected according to the widely accepted convention including the rights to protection from injury and prevention and treatment of illnesses.

        In less developed countries like Nigeria, the basic care is important, in that it may well be the only health care the child will ever receive in a country with scarce resources. Under these circumstances the rearing skills of the mother are of primary importance. Her ability to be the principal primary health-care provider requires knowledge of what is good health and able to learn and provide appropriate health care for the child. Obviously a mother’s health and education are of vital importance to a child’s well-being in any country of the world, but under conditions of poverty, they may mean the difference between life and death for the child.

        It is a disturbing fact that the death of a child is not regarded as being of the same importance as the death of an adult. In a way, this is strange because the child’s life holds such importance, perhaps he or she may become a genius Doctor, or even a head of state. At least he has years of productivity before him. Children are said to be a nation’s greatest asset, though the potential is still in the future. At the moment, the child is just another mouth to feed, a nuisance to be worried over.

        And so all down the ages, while often paying lip-service to the needs of children, society has infact relegated them to the lowest place.

        Every human being at sometime in life suffers illness caused by infection. Infections which can be passed from person to person are referred to as communicable diseases. Children in primary school in underdeveloped countries are exposed to unhygienic environment and as such are highly exposed to infectious diseases. This makes it worthwhile to study communicable diseases. Whenever any part of the body suffers, every other part of the body will be affected. When it happens this way, the pupils concerned will be hindered from attending school and if they do, they might not be able to concentrate in their studies. Hence the statement is true that it is a sound body that harbours a sound mind.

Statement of the Problem  

        Communicable diseases among the primary school children are worthy of knowledge considering the environmental hazards that they are exposed to both in their various homes and schools. Ill health is one major barrier that hinders the pupils from attending schools regularly or having full concentration on their studies. Whenever any part of the body suffers, the whole system of the body will be affected including the intellect. Therefore in the case of the primary school pupils the teaching-learning process will breakdown whenever a child is unsound in health. It is for this reason that all concerned parties must put hands on deck to ensure that as much as possible, school children are in sound health always and in particular free from communicable diseases.

Purpose of the Study

        The main purpose of the study is to survey the primary school pupils’ knowledge of communicable diseases in Kwara State. According to Anne (1980), most primary school pupils have environmental problems. These problems include, poor water supply, poor method of sewage disposal, inadequate health services and poor personal hygiene of the pupils both at home and in the school. The children play together, eat and drink together with the same utensils. They also breathe the same air in crowded and poorly ventilated classroom, and sleep in the same room in most cases. All these can be attributed as the basis for communicable diseases.

        The researcher therefore intends to find out whether the children have knowledge about communicable diseases as well as the symptoms of some common ones.

General Questions

• What is the place of good health in education?
• Should health education be made compulsory in the primary school?
• What are communicable diseases?
• What role should the Government play in the treatment and control of communicable diseases?