United Nations Day Celebration and the Cultural Realization of Junior High School Students in Labangal District: Basis For Program Development

Abstract

United Nations Day celebrations serve as a vital tool in fostering global citizenship, promoting cultural awareness, inclusivity, and international cooperation among students. These events help students develop a deeper understanding of global diversity and shared responsibility, reinforcing essential values such as unity and peace through intercultural dialogue (Banks, 2008; UNESCO, 2015).This study examines how United Nations Day celebrations influence the sociocultural development of junior high school students in  Labangal District. The research involved 353 students across all grade levels, ensuring an equal and diverse representation. Gender distribution was nearly balanced, with 53.54% male and 46.46% female, confirming that gender did not significantly impact participation. A notable finding of the study is that demographic characteristics such as year level (p = 0.027) and gender (p = 0.280) had no statistically significant effect on students' socio-cultural realization. This suggests that students, regardless of grade level or gender, exhibited similar levels of cultural knowledge, global issue awareness, attitudinal change, and behavioral intentions. Despite high satisfaction ratings across all parameters in the implementation  of the United Nations day  celebration , students' overall sociocultural realization remained at the "Beginning" level, with cultural awareness scoring the highest (75.92%), while global issues awareness and behavioral intentions scored the lowest (67.51% and 67.76%). These findings highlight the need for enhanced educational strategies within cultural activities to foster a deeper understanding of global issues and strengthen students’ engagement in global citizenship.