Abstract
Health education (HED) as a subject in the secondary school curriculum has been made a compulsory subject in West African Examination Council (WAEC) and Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) examinations for any candidate wanting to study any course in the medical and health-related disciplines in Nigerian tertiary institutions. This study seeks to find out the extent of the teaching of HED as a school subject in secondary schools in Bayelsa State; not as components of other subjects like health science, biology, and physical and health education. The proposed approach of the study was a State-wide survey of the teaching of HED as a school subject in secondary schools. This was done by involving 114 schools out of the 192 schools in the State. Findings revealed that out of the 114 schools visited, 38 schools only teach Physical and Health Education (PHE) as a subject in the Junior Secondary School level. During interviews with heads of schools that teaches PHE; it was gathered that the teachers who teach PHE also doubles as teachers of HED at the Senior Secondary (SSS) level. Implying that only 38 schools out of the 114 sampled schools teach (HED) as a school subject; this reveals an abysmal absence of the teaching of Health Education as a school subject in Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The none-teaching of HED underscores its importance to healthful-living It is therefore recommended that health education as a subject be encouraged and taught in all SSS in the State.
Highlights
Health education teaches about physical, mental, emotional and social health
The documents detailed the statistics of schools in each educational zone and the number of teachers teaching the various school subjects offered in the schools.Research question one was: is health education taught as a school subject? The first observation from the State Ministry of Education and Post Primary Schools Board documents was that Health Education as a school subject is not taught in any of the schools in the sampled educational zones involved in this study
Rather what is contained in the document as subjects taught are Food and Nutrition as a subject and Health Science was slashed with Physical and Health Education as a subject
Summary
It motivates students to improve and maintain their health, prevent disease, and reduce risky behaviors. Health education curricula and instruction help students learn skills they will use to make healthy choices throughout their lifetime. If the disease can be prevented, everybody is helped [1,2]. This is where health education comes in. It is sum of all experiences which influence habits, attitudes and knowledge relating to individual, family and community health. It motivates a person to acquire health information and put it into practice [3]. Health education according to [4] is a process that bridges the gap between health information and health practices, little
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