Truancy:Threat to Social Studies Pedagogy in Secondary School in Ebonyi State

The study focused on truancy as a threat to the teaching of social studies in secondary schools in Ebonyi state. The objectives of the study are to investigate how socio-economic status of parents contribute to truant behaviour in the teaching of Social studies, find out how family location lead to truant behavior in the teaching of Social studies and investigate how condition of teachers lead to truant behavior in the teaching and learning of Social studies. The population of the study comprises of 250 teachers, student from the urban and rural areas of the state. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire developed through intensive literature review based on the objectives and research questions. The responses were analyzed using mean, and standard deviation. The findings of the study showed that socio-economic status of parents, location of residential buildings and condition of service of teachers lead to truant behaviour in the teaching of Social studies. Peer pressure and separation/divorce also lead to truant behaviour. Vandalism and involvement in gangs are some of the effects of truant behaviour. Based on these findings, some recommendations were made such as parents should build their residential houses in place where their wards will learn things that will make them good citizens, parents should not use their socio-economic status to encourage truancy among others.