Education and Conflict Prevention: Assessing Peace Education Outcomes in Kaduna State Secondary Schools

This study empirically assesses the outcomes of structured peace education programs in secondary schools in Kaduna State, North West Nigeria, focusing on measurable changes in students' inter-group attitudes, conflict management competencies, and tolerance levels. Kaduna State's history of religious and ethnic conflict makes it a critical context for testing whether school-based peace education can serve as a structural conflict prevention tool. Using a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test design, quantitative data were collected from 320 students in eight secondary schools across Kaduna North, Chikun, and Jema'a local government areas, divided into treatment schools with structured peace education programs and control schools without. The theoretical framework draws from contact hypothesis, social learning theory, and the comprehensive peace education framework. Findings demonstrate statistically significant improvements in inter-group attitude scores, tolerance measures, and conflict management competency indicators among students in treatment schools compared to controls at six months post-intervention. Effect sizes are largest for students in religiously mixed school populations. Qualitative interviews with teachers identify consistent program delivery and active facilitation techniques as critical success factors. The study recommends scaling the Kaduna State peace education pilot into a full statewide curriculum initiative, establishing teacher training centres for peace education facilitation, and developing Kaduna-specific culturally contextualised peace education materials. Keywords: peace education, conflict prevention, Kaduna State, secondary schools, inter-group attitudes.