ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS OF TECHNICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS OF ENUGU STATE FOR MITIGATING OZONE LAYER DEPLETION, GLOBAL WARMING AND THEIR EFFECTS

Abstract

The study aimed at determining the level of environmental awareness of Technical College Students in
Enugu State of Nigeria, with a view to mitigating ozone layer depletion, global warming and their effects.
Two research questions guided the study. Mean scores and standard deviations were used to answer the
research questions. Two null hypotheses were formulated to test the level of significance in the mean
responses of males and females within 0.05 level of significance. A survey research method was used. A
structured 20-item questionnaire was the instrument used for the collection of data. The instrument was
validated by two experts from Environmental Sciences and an expert in Measurement and Evaluation from
Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT. The reliability of the instrument was determined
using test-retest method while Cronbach Alpha was used to establish a reliability coefficient of the
instrument as 0.89. 0.89 was considered high enough, according to Griethuijsen, Eijck, Haste, Brok, Skinner,
Mansour et al (2014). The entire population for the study comprised 1761 technical college students but
purposively, 587 final year students of the Technical Colleges in Enugu State were the respondents. The
result showed that most of the were not aware of the effects ozone layer depletion and global warming have
on the environment. The null hypotheses tested indicated that no significant difference existed between the
male and female Technical College students' mean scores in Enugu State. It is therefore not a gender issue.
Following the level of ignorance among the students, the researcher recommended the formation of the
Young Friends of the Environment Club (YFEC) in Technical Colleges in Enugu State. In future they may
eventually grow to contribute in protecting the Environment thereby mitigating the ozone layer depletion
and global warming.