Secondary School Students Perception of Fisheries as a Profession in Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the perception of secondary school student across Borno State towards fisheries as a profession. A total of 300 structured questionnaires was administered among secondary school students in five (5) Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) zone which were Maiduguri, Biu, Gwoza, Bama and Monguno zones. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics. The result revealed that, 65% of the respondents were male while 25% were female. The source of awareness about fisheries was through their teachers which had 50.70%, 16.27% through mass media, 15.06% through extension agent, 13.57% through friends, while others had 4.6%. The respondents’ interest/likeness about fisheries revealed that 52.14% had interest, 32.14% has no interest while 15.72% are yet to decided. A total of 76.43% had positive perception in practicing fish farming while 23.57% had no interest. Awareness about fisheries as profession revealed that 72.14% are aware while 27.86% are unaware. Conclusively, the perception of secondary school students to fisheries is encouraging, so there is prospect for fisheries as a profession in Borno state. It will be recommended that more awareness should be created to secondary school students about fisheries profession and as prospect for youth empowerment.

Keywords: Fisheries, Perception, School, Student, Profession.