REFOCUSSING MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION PROGRAMMES FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT AMONGST YOUTHS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This study investigated refocusing mechanical technology education programmes for sustainable peace and development amongst youths in Rivers State, specifically, this study investigatedrefocussing practical activities in mechanical technology education programmes for sustainable peace and development amongst youths in Rivers State, and refocussing human resource competence in mechanical technology education programmes for sustainable peace development amongst youths in Rivers State.Two research questions and hypotheses were answered and tested at .05 level of significance. A descriptive survey design guided the study. The population of the study comprised 63mechanical education lecturers and 90 final year students in the three tertiary institutions in Rivers State that offer mechanical technology education, namely. Rivers State University, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, and Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku in affiliation with University of Nigeria Nsukka. The population was manageable, therefore, no sampling technique was used for the study. Self-made survey questionnaire served as the instrument for the study. The instrument was face validated by two experts. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient which yielded a coefficient of .74. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions while z-test statistical tool was used to test the hypotheses. The study found among others that practical skills like machine tool maintenance, welding and fabrication, machine tool operations, auto body repair, material selection skills are areas that need refocusing. It was recommended among others that the government and tertiary institutions management through TETFUND should make provision for practical skill training and retraining of all mechanical technology education lecturers for practical skill development torefocusing practical activities of the programmestowards skill acquisition of mechanical education students for sustainable peace and development amongst youths in Rivers State