The Effects of Practical Environmental Education Practices on Pupils’ Sanitary Attitudes in Selected Primary Schools in Bamenda II Municipality

Abstract

This study was prompted by the absence of sanitation in some primary schools in Bamenda II municipality despite the growing awareness of environmental education in the curriculum. To inquire about the problem, a quasi-experimental research design was partly used and a descriptive research design was also partly used. The population of the study involved teachers and all the class five and six pupils in four primary schools in Bamenda II municipality. The sample of the study consisted of 225 Class Five and Six pupils and 42 teachers drawn from four (4) primary schools. Two instruments were used for the study. That is Pupils’ Sanitary Attitudes Scale (PSAS) and a 10 item Teachers' Environmental Education Questionnaire (TEEQ). The Instruments were validated using the Kodder- Richardson 20(K-R-20) for the reliability of the PSAS which stood at 0.84 while the Cronbach's alpha reliability of the TEEQ was 0.80. Means were used to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that primary school teachers do not significantly involve pupils in practical environmental education practices. As a recommendation, seminars and workshops should be organized by pedagogic stakeholders to retrain teachers on practical environmental education practices so that they can properly handle this subject well to meet its objectives.