AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

NIL

This study examined the influence of practical Agricultural science activities on academic performance of public secondary school students of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government of Edo State. Five research questions guided this study, three questions were answered and two questions were hypothesized, the population of this study consist of 250 senior public secondary school students, the samples of this study was 20% of the total population which have a sample of 50students, pearson(r) was used to determine the level of reliability ,the instrument for data collection was questionnaire validated by the supervisor and other lecturers in the institute of Education, the reliability of the instrument was tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance using test retest method and a correlation coefficient of 0.90 was obtained. The data collected was inputted into the computer and analyzed using SPSS: mean and standard deviation. The study found out that practical agricultural science activities has influence on academic performance on public secondary school students, based on the findings, it was recommended that schools should design balanced timetable that allocate adequate time for both practical agricultural activities and academic subjects to prevent interference with student’s study.

This study was conducted to assess the perception of Agricultural Education students on the roles of Vocational and Technical Education in reducing unemployment in Edo State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Four research questions were raised and one hypothesis was formulated to guide this study. The population consisted of 135 students from the Department of Vocational and Technical Education, Faculty of Education, University of Benin. The entire population was used as the sample due to its manageable size. The research instrument was a structured questionnaire titled “The Perception of Agricultural Education Students on the Roles of Vocational and Technical Education in Reducing Unemployment” (PAESRVTERU). The instrument was validated through expert judgment by the researcher’s supervisor and two specialists in the department. Its reliability was established using Cronbach Alpha, yielding a coefficient of 0.77, indicating good internal consistency. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and independent sample t-test at 0.05 level of significance using statistical package for the social science (SPSS). Findings revealed that Agricultural Education students perceived vocational and technical education as significantly contributing to skills development, economic growth, and entrepreneurship promotion, all of which influence the reduction of unemployment in Edo State to a high extent. Specifically, skill development was recognized as a vital engine of job creation, economic growth was seen as a driver of labor demand, and entrepreneurship promotion was acknowledged as a viable tool for empowering graduates and reducing social vices.