Awareness and attitude of primary school teachers in Kano metropolis, Nigeria towards pupils with learning disabilities, how effective is the school health programme?

Abstract

Teachers have central role in identification and management of children with learning disabilities. Objectives: Ten years after drafting the national guidelines for implementation of school health programme in Nigeria, this study assessed awareness and attitude of primary school teachers in Kano metropolis towards children with learning disabilities as proxy for the effectiveness of school health programme. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to study a random sample of 186 primary school teachers in Kano. Data was collected with the aid of a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire, and analyzed using IBM SPSSStatistics for Windows, version 22. Result: The mean age of the teachers was 32.8 ± 7.8 years. Majority had post-secondary school education 170(91.9%) and had worked for an average of 7.5 ± 6.8 years. About half 98(53.0%) were aware of a link between lack of academic progression in children and some probable medical condition(s), but none of them knew the characteristics of learning disabilities. About one-quarter of the teachers 52(28.1%) had negative attitude towards pupils with learning disability. Teaching in a large class was the only factor that emerged as the independent predictor of the teachers' positive attitude towardsstudents with learning disabilities. Conclusion: Majority of the teachers had positive attitude towards pupils with learning disabilities but none of them could identify the features of such children. Ministries of health and education should work closely with development partners and interested researchers to resuscitate the school health programme.