ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic may be over but it left in its wake a lot of important lessons. In order to control the spread of the pandemic, primary schools in Nigeria were shut and reopened six months later with the instruction that pupils should be adequately educated on COVID-19 and its prevention. This study assessed and compared the knowledge of and preventive practices against COVID-19 among pupils in public and private primary schools in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was carried out among 400 pupils randomly selected from 50 public and 50 private primary schools in Ile-Ife. The instrument was a purpose-developed pretested questionnaire which was interviewer-administered. The Bloom’s cut off points were used to categorize the pupils’ knowledge of COVID-19 and preventive practices against it. Data analysis was with SPSS version 25, while p values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.
Result: Overall, half of the respondents (51.5%) had good knowledge of COVID-19, while 60% had good preventive practices against COVID-19. Pupils in the public schools had a lower level of COVID-19 knowledge (47.5% vs 55.5%, p=0.205), and preventive practices (48% vs 72%, p<0.001).
Conclusion: A fair percentage of the pupils had good knowledge of COVID-19 and its preventive practices. School authorities should ensure that pupils are well educated at their level on the prevention and control of communicable diseases, and ensure adequate infection prevention and control in all schools at all times.
Keywords: COVID-19, Ile-Ife, knowledge, prevention, pupils.
How to Cite: Nnamdi EO. Knowledge and Preventive Practices among Pupils in Public and Private Primary Schools in a Nigerian Town. Global Professionals Multidisciplinary Practices Journal. 2024; 1(3):1-23
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