Personal Variables and Students’ Perception of School Security in Secondary Schools in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the influence of personal variables such as sex, type of school and parental socio-economic status on secondary school students’ perception of school security. To guide the study, three null hypotheses were formulated. The research design adopted was the survey design and a 20-item instrument was constructed and validated by the researchers through test-retest procedure. The sample size for the study comprised 2,198 students made up of male and female students selected through stratified random sampling technique. This was drawn from a study population of 21,988, made up of 12,635 students and 9353 students from public and private secondary schools respectively. Data were analyzed using independent t-test statistical tool. The findings showed that female students were more fearful in their perception of school security; the students in private schools perceived school to be more insecure than those in public schools; and the students from high parental socio-economic status are more associated with the perception of school as insecure than the ones from low parental socio-economic status. Based on these findings it was recommended that, among others, more reassuring measures be put in place to check school security for the females, for those in private schools and those from high parental socio-economic status. School counsellors should also be guided accordingly in designing intervention strategies.