Health Consequences of Climate Change on Education and Sustainable Development
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ISSN: 3057-3939 (Print) | 305-39207 (online)
Publication Date:
03-03-2025
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Education is a catalyst for the development of every country hence the need for quality
education of the youths who shall become leaders of tomorrow. When students’ health
is threatened by the immediate and long term impacts of climate change, their education
is undermined, as such the sustainable development strides of the nation becomes
compromised. Nations are vulnerable to climate change impacts given the vagaries of
climate conditions they experience. The present study investigated the health consequences
of climate change on secondary school students in Ebonyi State. Following a descriptive
survey design, 400 Senior Secondary School two (SS11) students were randomly sampled
out of 8,376 students in Onueke Educational Zone, Ebonyi State, South-Eastern Nigeria. An
adapted instrument with a reliability coefficient of 0.87 was used for this study. Responses
were tabulated and categorized using descriptive statistics while hypotheses were tested
at p < 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study revealed that changing rainfall
patterns, drought and high temperature impact negatively on their health causing serious
health challenges like lack of concentration in the class, sleeping disorder and sicknesses resulting from bacterial infection, etc. Based on the findings, it is recommended that school
authorities should organize workshops on effective coping strategies to address climate
change. Tree planting and other environmental programmes should be instituted to involve
students in practical community-based response to climate change
Keywords: Climate change, Climate impact, Ebonyi state, secondary school students, health
consequences, coping strategies.