Attitudes of Secondary School Students towards the Study of Christian Religious Studies in Tertiary Institutions in Ibadan South-West Local Government Area of Oyo State

Abstract:

This research investigates the attitudes of Secondary School Students towards the studying of Christian Religious Studies in tertiary institutions in Ibadan South-West Local Government Area of Oyo State. Religion is very important and therefore, it is included in the National Policy of Education right from primary to tertiary level of education (NPE, 2014). In spite of the importance of the subject, students’ attitude towards the subject is not encouraging. This raises future concern on studying the subject. This situation necessitates the need to empirically investigate students’ attitudes towards the subject, especially studying it further in tertiary institutions. This is the gap which this research intends to fill. The research made use of descriptive and survey methods for the inquiry. The survey technique adopted includes the questionnaire which was designed by the researcher for data collection. Mean was used to analyze the data obtained. Criterion mean of 2.50 was raised by adding the assigned values of responses and dividing it with the total number of the responses options which is the summation of 4+3+2+1=10/4=2.50. Therefore, any score below 2.50 was rejected while 2.50 and above was accepted. Findings from the research revealed that students have negative attitudes towards studying Christian Religious Studies in higher institutions due to lack of interest on the part of the students, poor teaching methodology used by teachers and parental influence on the choice of their career. Therefore, the researcher recommends that Christian Religious Studies as a subject should be made compulsory in Secondary schools, the students should be motivated and encouraged by the government and teachers to develop interest in the subject at the Secondary level so that more students can study it as a discipline in higher institutions.