RELEVANCE OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES EDUCATION TO SECURITY AND SAFETYEDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper investigated the relevance of Arts and Social Sciences Education in the promotion of security and
safety education in Nigeria. This paper critically analysed the religious, social and language roles in ensuring
security and safety of lives and properties in our society. In the course of this study, secondary data used for this
work were sourced from journals, textbooks, articles, newspapers and other relevant materials that are germane
to this study. The simple random sampling technique was used to select 50 out of 120 teachers of Religious
Studies, 55 out of 135 teachers of language education and 53 out of 315 teachers of social studies in upper basic
schools in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria. A researchers-designed questionnaire was used to gather
data from the respondents. The instrument used was validated by three experts in Test and Measurement and
found it appropriate for this study. The reliability of the instrument was determined using test re-test reliability
technique within a two week interval. The scores of the two tests were correlated using the Pearson’s Product
Moment Correlation (PPMC). The value of the correlation coefficient obtained was 0.87. Three research
questions were raised and answered using the percentages. The findings of the study revealed that Arts and
Social Sciences Education are relevant in ensuring security and safety education in our society. The study
concluded that to achieve the aims of Arts and Social Sciences Education for security and safety education in
our institutions, the curriculum must be reviewed in other to promote security education through Arts and Social
Sciences Education. Also, the study recommended that ministry of education should include security and safety
education in social studies, languages education and religious studies education curriculum at all levels of
education.