EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION IN AMELIORATING SOCIAL VICES AMONGST UNDERGRADUATES IN FALCUTY OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

This study was to access the effectiveness of Social Studies education in ameliorating social vices amongst undergraduates in Faculty of Education, University of Benin. Four research questions were raised to guide the study. The population for the study consists of students from the eight Department in Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin City. A sample size of 240 students were randomly selected for the study. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire, which was developed by the researcher, validated by the project supervisor before it was administered by the researcher. The data collected were tabulated according to the researcher questions and analyzed with the use of simple percentage. The results revealed that curriculum content of Social Studies has helped to ameliorate social vices among undergraduate students such as cultism, stealing, drug abuse, exam malpractice and thuggery, It was also revealed that the challenges encountered by undergraduate students in keeping up with social norms and values are peer pressure, family background, unhealthy use of social media, difficulty in getting a good role model and poverty. It was therefore recommended that efforts should be made for teacher training, seminars, forums, and workshops to familiarize teachers with the curriculum and to improve teacher competence and provide them with relevant materials, teachers and lecturers should be empowered and exposed to a variety of ways of improving their own knowledge and skills, finally, the government needs to compensate teachers by paying good salaries and allowances to facilitate teaching and learning and inculcate good morals in students, as is being done in other sectors of the economy