Abstract

The passage of Child rights Law by all the 36 States of the Nigerian Federation and the Federal Capital Territory is a major step towards the realisation of the provisions of the law. However, all stakeholders must be aware of the provisions of the law for the benefits of the children. This study is conducted to examine the perception of Social Studies teachers to the role of child rights in youth socialisation in Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive research design with population comprising Social Studies teachers in both private and public secondary schools in junior secondary schools in Southwest Nigeria. The population consisted of a population of 150 teachers in 45 public and private junior secondary schools, selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure. The instrument used for the study was selfconstructed questionnaire titled “Social Studies Teachers' Perception of Child Rights in Youth Socialisation (SSTPCRIYS) which was validated by experts. The reliability was established at 0.79 co-efficient. The data of the study was analysed using frequency, simple percentages and correlation co-efficient. The study showed that Social Studies teachers generally demonstrated a high level of awareness of fundamental human rights, but weaker awareness of privacy, freedom of thought and religion. It also found that child labour, religion and non-exposure to language and culture instituted impediments to child rights education. Also, teachers in public and private schools had awareness of child rights. The study recommended that child rights education should be infused into social studies curriculum in schools to ensure positive youth socialisation.