SCHOOL SECURITY ARCHITECTURE IN THE ERA OF DIGITALIZATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR SAFETY IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AWKA SOUTH LGA OFANAMBRA STATE.

Abstract

The Nigerian nation has witnessed various dimensions of security challenges in recent times to the extent that some States are labelled hot zones including Anambra State. More often than not, schools are targeted, sequel to this, quest for safety in school places becomes imperative. The study is therefore aimed at examining the school personnel awareness and availability of the school security architecture in an era of digitalization in public secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study was guided by two research questions. The study adopted descriptive survey research design The population of the study comprised the entire public secondary schools in Awka South LGA with 19 principals and 495 teachers (34 males & 461 females) totalling 514. Simple random sampling technique was adopted to select 10 principals (50%) and 396 teachers (80%) as participants. The respondents are principals and teachers of selected schools numbering 406. The instrument for data collection was designed by the researchers and named “School Security Architecture in an Era of Digitalization Questionnaire” (SSAEDQ). Validation of the instrument was duly certified through scholarly reviews. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained through test re-test method and the results therefrom exposed to Pearson Moment Correlation which yielded an index value of 0.82 which was adjudged adequate for this study. Mean statistics was used to answer the research questions. The findings of the study among others revealed that there is total lack of school security architecture in an era of digitalization in public secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the appropriate agency and/or education authority should expedite action to provide and install digitalized security outfit to safe guide the school players from impend ingsecurity challenges that have bedeviled the entire nation Nigeria and Anambra State in particular.