THE IMPACT OF TEACHING CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDIES ON STUDENTS’ MORAL DEVELOPMENT IN APA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of teaching Christian Religious Studies (CRS) on students’ moral development in secondary schools in Apa Local Government (LGA) of Benue State. The study was guided by two specific purposes and two research questions. The researcher adopted a descriptive survey research design. The study was carried out in Benue State, Nigeria. A sample of 200 students, 20 CRS teachers and 10 school administrators were selected using purposive sampling technique. A structured questionnaire and interview were used for data collection. The instrument was validated and in the process a logical validity index of 0.75 was obtained. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha and an overall reliability coefficient of 0.98 was ascertained. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviations) was used to answer the research questions, while t-test statistics was employed in testing the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The finding of the study reveals among others that there was a significant impact of moral development of students in Apa LGA. Based on the above findings the following recommendations among other were made; The government should ensure that Christian religious studies is retained as a core subject in secondary school curricula in order to uphold the moral development of learners and also the teaching of Christian religious studies should lay emphasis not just on knowledge acquisition but should focus majorly on instilling moral values into learners so as to enhance their moral development.