THE ROLE OF SPORTS AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION AS A MECHANISM FOR CONTROL OF DEVIANT ACT AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

This paper focuses on deviant activities among students vis-à-vis sports as panacea for the deviant problems by students in Nigerian secondary schools. The vices that stigmatize the secondary schools today are traceable to the uncontrolled behavior of students. School authorities and concerned Governments over the years have applied measures to check the excesses of students in schools without noticeable success. Sports stand to provide the needed solution to this lingering problem of deviance in schools. Sports are perceived as wholesome pursuits for students in secondary schools which channel their thinkings and dispositions towards worthwhile goals. Sports provide students the opportunity to cultivate sportsmanship qualities, which is necessary for school discipline. The educational values of sports include self-discipline and control, obedience and cooperation with constituted authorities. Similarly, sports provide students with safety valve for letting off excessive energies, which ordinarily could have been mischievously channeled towards acts that are opposed to school discipline. The importance of sports programmes organization in schools was highlighted. The components of a sound physical education and sports programmes in Nigerian secondary schools from which students can benefit in building up desirable behavior were also discussed. Finally, recommendations were made on how participation in sport and physical education by student can help solve the problem of deviant activities in Nigerian secondary schools.