ABSTRACT
Nigeria is currently facing the problem of religious conflicts and the wave of intolerance is on the increase. The nation is gradually polarized along religious lines; and the need to seek approaches to the solutions of religious intolerance becomes necessary. In view of the failure of religious dialogue, seminars and workshops to attain the desired peace needed for national development, it is necessary to seek other reliable means of solving religious conflict among students, and the nation at large. It is against this backdrop that this study considers the Opinions of JSS students on Social studies Education as an Instrument of solving Religious Intolerance in Kaduna state, Nigeria. Four research objectives, questions and hypotheses were raised for the study. Respondents were drawn from the JSS2 and JSS3 students of Commercial College Sabon-Gari, Federal Government Girls College Basawa, and City Academy Zaria in Sabon-Gari and Zaria in Kaduna state. Stratified sampling technique was used to select the sample for this study. The data for the study was collected using a researcher designed questionnaire. The design adopted for this study was descriptive survey design. The total number of students used for this study was two hundred and fifty three (253). Respondents responded to a set of questions, in which they indicated the level of their awareness on social studies concepts, knowledge on religious intolerance and the importance of social studies in solving religious intolerance among students. The data gathered were analyzed using t-test for independent samples at 95% (P < 0.05) significance level. The findings in this study highlighted the critical importance of using social studies education to solve the present and future occurrences of religious intolerance in Nigeria. The study concluded that the more education is given priority in the nation, especially social studies, the less intolerant to religion people will become and the more tolerant teachers can be in the face of divergent beliefs and religious practices the more tolerant students will become in the face of diversity. It is recommended among others that, students should be taught to be tolerant of each others religious doctrines and practices and learn to live harmoniously together. Likewise, social studies as a course should be made compulsory in all classes of out educational system as it is the best tool for fostering unity and religious tolerance among our people in the society.