INFLUENCE OF CIVIC EDUCATION AND CULTURAL HERITAGE APPRECIATION ON NATIONAL RESILIENCE AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KADUNA METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of civic education and cultural heritage 
appreciation on national resilience among senior secondary school students in Kaduna 
metropolis, Nigeria, an area that has experienced recurring school insecurity. Three 
objectives, three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study, which 
adopted a correlational design. The population comprised 4,865 Senior Secondary 
Two (SS II) students in public senior secondary schools within Kaduna metropolis, 
from which a sample of 300 students was drawn using a multi-stage sampling 
procedure involving purposive, simple random and stratified sampling. Data were 
collected using the researcher-developed Civic Education, Cultural Heritage and 
National Resilience Questionnaire (CECHNAR-Q), which was validated by experts 
and yielded Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients of .75, .76 and .75 for its three sub
scales. The data were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and 
multiple regression at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed statistically 
significant, positive relationships between civic education awareness and national 
resilience (r = .432, p < .05) and between cultural heritage appreciation and national 
resilience (r = .507, p < .05). The two variables also jointly and significantly predicted 
national resilience, accounting for 34.0% of its variance (R² = .340, F(2, 297) = 76.46, 
p < .05), with cultural heritage appreciation the stronger predictor. The study 
concluded that civic education awareness and cultural heritage appreciation make a 
meaningful, though partial, contribution to students' national resilience. It was 
recommended, among others, that civic education be delivered more practically in 
schools.