Contribution Of Social Studies In Inculcating Citizenship Values In Jss In Gwagwalada Area Council Abuja

In order to achieve these aims and objectives, the government emphasized that a conscious effort, should be made to teach the tenets of good citizenship at all levels of education. To this end, therefore, in section 3(14c), the National Policy on Education emphasizes the importance of citizenship education as a basis for an individual’s effective participation in and contribution to the life of the society. In section 4(18e) and 4(18f), the Policy stressed that education should raise a generation of people who can think for themselves, respect the views and feelings of others, respect the dignity of labour and appreciate those values specified under our broad national aims and live as good citizens, foster Nigerian unity with emphasis on the common ties that unite us in our diversity. Thus the teaching and learning of Social Studies is pivotal to an understanding of the need for a cultivation of effective human relations. This perspective is geared at producing effective citizens and of forging a cohesive society that will support the notion of nation-building through the teaching and learning of Social Studies programmes in our colleges and schools. (Okam, 2002). Okam (1998) also stressed that an acquisition of the tenets of citizenship socialization by learners or students in our various school setting should not be a chance affair. He emphasized that it has to be learnt and cultivated by way of the relevant educational processes associated with classroom instructions in Social Studies.

Social Studies educators such as Adaralegbe (1980), Okobiah (1984) and Udoh (1992) are of the opinion that Social Studies, if effectively taught, can be used as a tool for citizenship values and for creating citizenry in children. Adaralegbe (1980) asserted that the teaching and learning of Social Studies should be concerned with preparing the learners for goals and purposes of responsible and effective citizenship. Okobiah (1984) noticed that Social Studies in Nigeria is aimed at organizing the youths, students and young learners for the purpose of helping them to cultivate an awareness and understanding that would transform them into citizens with skills, attitudes, competences and reasoned judgements to effectively interact and contribute positively to the economic, Social and cultural development of the Nigerian society. Uche (1980) expressed that Social Studies is primarily concerned with the development of good citizens. Adeyoyin (1979) in Okam (1998) posited that the teaching and learning of Social Studies in our schools should produce Nigerians who are loyal to the central unit rather than the tribal groups. This implies that Social Studies should be used to develop the sense of patriotism in children.

Another reason for the introduction of Social Studies in schools bears on the view that it has been accepted as the most important subject through which Nigerians develop a sense of unity, peace and a development of the country. In the same vein, Social Studies programmes can be used to develop citizenship valuesand sense of political participation in the children. According to Smyth (1980) in Okam (1998), the idea of teaching Social Studies is to create an awareness through a variety of techniques and forms of guided self-analysis in which learners or students would become very highly informed and aware of their learned behaviour in schools. Greenstein (1965), Stacey (1978), Nwabuzo and Martha (1985) were of the opinion that citizenship education should be started early in the life of a child because it has profound effect on adult social and political awareness and participation. The implication is that educational institutions in Nigeria can develop citizenship valuesof the JS student via the proper use of Social Studies programmes as presented in the curriculum of secondary schools, for an attainment of citizenship norms, virtures and goals.

Thus, Barr, Barth and Shermus (1978) contended that Social Studies is aimed at an integration of the Social Sciences and the Humanities for the purpose of instruction in citizenship education. This implies that the provision of Social Studies programmes in secondary school curriculum will go a long way to promote Citizenship values in the students not only for a development of citizenship norms but also for national development. The incorporation of the Social Sciences into Social Studies as concepts is to produce citizens who can evaluate, identify problems, analyse and come up with rational decisions. Thus Onifade (2002) stressed that the Social Sciences are seen as the basic foundations of Social Studies Education not only because the Social Sciences represent the primary source of data but they also form the foundation of curriculum planning in Social Studies. Social Studies is seen by Joof and Awang (1987) in Onifade (2002) as Social Sciences the overlapping other disciplines. In relating Social Studies to the Social Sciences, Okam (1998) sees Social Studies as an applied field which attempts to fuse scientific knowledge with ethical, philosophical and social considerations which arise in the process of decision-making as practiced by the citizens. Du Bey and Barth (1980) explained further that what Social Studies Education does in essence, is to study human life so that children are given the opportunity to practice solving problems of crucial importance both for the individual and society. This, in essence, means that a provision of Social Studies programmes in the secondary school curriculum is designed to enable children practice solving political problems which will be geared towards an attainment of citizenship norms and the development of national unity. Okam (1998) in Adekeye (2002) pointed out that the differences one may identify in Social Studies and the Social Sciences are that, while the Social Sciences are concerned with the propagation of knowledge, the primary purpose of Social Studies is the utilization of knowledge for the purpose of socializing young children in schools. The aim is to improve the process by which citizens use knowledge from the Social Sciences to make decisions which concern their individual behaviour and questions of social and public policy. Adekeye (2000) emphasized that the scope of Social Studies is broader than the curriculum coverage in Social Studies. She explained that the objectives of Social Studies Education goes beyond the cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Behavioural Objectives (1965).

It is important to reflect that Nigerian educators have accepted Social Studies education as a curriculum instrument par excellence not only for the development of Citizenship values but also for an acquisition of citizenship norms in schools (Du Bey and Barth, 1980; Adaralegbe, 1981; Okam, 1988; The National Policy On Education (NPE) 1998). The provision of Social Studies programmes in Secondary Schools is designed to enable Students acquire a good deal of the virtues intrinsic in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Behavioural Objectives (19 56). An acquisition of the curriculum content intrinsic in Social Studies education by students in our Junior Secondary Schools is meant to arm them with the necessary knowledge, attitudes, values and skills germane not only for developing Citizenship valuesbut also for preparing them as affective citizens. It is expected that these citizens would contribute enormously to nation-building and national development in the country.