Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Self-Employment Intentions Among Secondary School Students in Kano State

This study examines the effect of entrepreneurship education on the self-employment intentions of secondary school students in Kano State, North West Nigeria. The increasing rate of youth unemployment in Nigeria has drawn attention to the role of business education in cultivating entrepreneurial mindsets among young people. Despite the integration of entrepreneurship studies into the secondary school curriculum, there remains a significant gap in empirical evidence regarding its practical impact on students career decisions in the North West geopolitical zone. This study adopts a descriptive survey design. A sample of 300 senior secondary school students drawn from six public schools across Kano Municipal Local Government Area was selected using stratified random sampling. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire validated by experts in business education and measurement. Mean scores and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test statistics were used to test the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings reveal that students exposed to entrepreneurship education demonstrate significantly higher self-employment intentions compared to those who are not. The quality of instructional delivery and availability of teaching resources were identified as key moderating factors. The study recommends that state governments in the North West zone should invest in training business education teachers on contemporary entrepreneurship pedagogy and provide functional mini-enterprise laboratories in secondary schools to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Keywords: entrepreneurship education, self-employment intentions, secondary school students, business education, Kano State