An Assessment of Environmental Awareness among Secondary School Teachers in Dutse Town, Nigeria

The research was conducted on the assessment of environmental awareness among Secondary School teachers within Dutse town, Jigawa State. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. 10 schools with 12 teachers from each school (6 male and 6 female teachers) were sampled, making a total of 120 teachers, and it was designed based on varying aspects of environmental issues and information that could improve the level of awareness. Both primary and secondary data were utilized and analyzed using simple descriptive statistics such as frequency table, mean tables, Bar charts and Graphs. A Computer software, Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) was employed using the Environmental Awareness Test (EAT) tool developed by Shabina Jinarajin (1999). Results revealed that there are no significant differences between the male and female teachers in relation to their level of environmental awareness. It was also noted that knowledge on environmental phenomenon was mostly proficient with regards to environmental erosion followed by soil degradation with the percentage of 56.7% and 35.8% respectively. The result also shows that majority of the respondent are not conversant with environmental terms like sustainable forestry practice, aridity, and biodiversity lost and many more. In addition, the result shows that a lot of the respondents have knowledge on greenhouse effect, ecosystem and this may be as a result of global concerns on the terms. These responses clearly show that some of the teachers in Dutse, Jigawa State are not fully engage in environmental issues. Therefore the research recommended that there should be formal training of special/regular teachers; workshops, conferences and other training programmes should be organized for the teachers to improve their knowledge on environmental awareness.