Knowledge of Senate Committee Members on Health and Safety Effects of an Overcrowded Classroom in Nigerian Public Universities

Abstract

Due to the high desire for Nigerian citizens to acquire university degrees for the main purpose of better employment; and due to liberalization of education policies; high admission rates now manifest in our universities. The enrolment figures are often higher than the carrying capacities in certain key academic programmes, triggering high incidences of overcrowded classroom populations. The negative health and safety effects of an overcrowded classroom cannot be over-emphasized among the students and lecturers. It is a descriptive survey design study that made use of a sample population of 200 senate committee members across 30 public universities in Nigeria, which were contrived through a convenience random sampling technique. The population size of the Senate committee members for the study was 925. Questionnaires were administered to the senate committee members and their responses were retrieved and analyzed statistically by making use of the mean to give answers to two research questions, while the Z-test was used for two hypotheses. On the whole, it was found out that the senate committee members on the over-view have good knowledge of the hazards of an over-crowded classroom, as well as the epidemics that could exist therein. It was recommended among others that senate committee members in consonance with the National University Commission should limit the population of students’ environment to suit the carrying capacity of the classrooms. Stick to the standard number of students per classroom learning, and rationalize the number of lecturers for every foundation, general studies, and borrowed courses, that have an over-populated student ratio.