Perception and Preference of Secondary School Students in the Choice of Forestry as a Career in Ibadan Metropolis

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VI, Issue XI, November 2019 | ISSN 2321–2705

Perception and Preference of Secondary School Students in the Choice of Forestry as a Career in Ibadan Metropolis

Ajekigbe, J.M.

 Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, P.M.B.5054 Jericho Hills, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract: – Forestry education at tertiary level is struc¬tured to produce professional foresters, in view of managing biodiver¬sity of natural environment, sustainable forest management creating and managing wood resource and potential to interact and work with the forest-based communities. The study was conducted to ascertain the perception of secondary school students in Ibadan metropolis, Oyo State about Forestry as a career in the university. A total of 100 pre-tested questionnaires were randomly administered to respondents to collect data in selected secondary schools in the state. The data collected was subjected to descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages and was further tested using chi–square statistics. Only 13 out of the 100 students expressed willingness to study forestry in the university. The males accounted for 48% of the population willing to study the course with or without scholarship. Despite Students’ awareness level of 65%, the students’ preference for medicine, law, engineering; under-representation of Forestry in secondary school curricula; and inadequate knowledge of its career prospects, were the major reasons for the low preference in studying the course. The study posit the need for the revision of secondary school Curricula in favour of forestry as a course of study along with massive public enlightenment on the prospects of the profession and globalization of the course were amongst others suggested as ways to enhancing students’ perception and preference for forestry as a field of study.

Keywords: Perception, Preference, Forestry, Career, Secondary school, Students, Oyo State

I. INTRODUCTION

Forestry as a profession came to being almost 200 years ago (Daramola, 2010) having realized the importance of forests as resources for the existence of man. This posited forestry education system to incorporate learn¬ing, researching and training of professionals in the forestry sector. Generally, forestry education at tertiary level is struc¬tured to produce professional foresters. APFNET (2018) stated that school leavers who selected forestry academic programs at universities were driven by the opportunity to work outdoors, their interest in managing biodiver¬sity of natural environment, creating and managing wood resource and potential to interact and work with the forest-based communities. Against this background, the traditional forestry programs prepared the students with a strong foundation in a number of core academic disci¬plines, and subsequently trained them in the professional context for the forestry sector (APFNET 2018).

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