HUMAN RIGHT AWARENESS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN RELATION TO URBAN AREA AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

The growth of responsible citizens and the defence of individual liberties, irrespective of colour, race, language, political views, socioeconomic or national origin, assets, or place of birth, depend on an understanding of and respect for human rights. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between academic achievement and senior secondary school students’ understanding of human rights in urban areas. A simple random sample of 100 pupils (50 males and 50 females) from five government urban schools in the Himachal Pradesh district of Kangra was utilised in a descriptive study. The Human Rights Awareness Test (HRAT-SVAA), created by Dr. Vishal Sood and Mrs. Arti Anand (2012), was used to gauge human rights awareness, while the students’ prior year’s class scores were used to gauge academic achievement. The coefficient of Pearson correlation was used to analyse the data. The results showed that students’ comprehension of the importance of human rights for defending constitutional rights and advancing society is inadequate. Additionally, the study found a weakly negative relationship between academic achievement and human rights knowledge among urban senior secondary students in general and among male and female students in particular. The findings highlight the necessity of well-designed human rights education initiatives taught by trained teachers in order to help pupils develop a more profound and enduring grasp of human rights.