Background: Every year, about 50,000 people die of rabies of which about 55% of the mortalities occur in Asia
and over 40% in Africa. Children are victims of up to 50% of these mortalities. The figure is alarming and
immediate action is required to stop this scourge. Aim: This study was carried out to assess the knowledge,
attitude and practice about rabies among children attending primary schools located in the Ahmadu Bello
University (ABU) premises and those outside the university as well as those receiving informal education.
Method: The participants for this study were children drawn by random selection from the schools chosen by
purposive sampling. With the aid of questionnaires, information was obtained from a total of 477 children with
400 from formal educational settings among 3 schools, and 77 from quaranic schools (almajiris) in the informal
setting. Results: There was an association between parents’ occupation and type of school children were
attending (p<0.05)More children receiving formal education were aware about the disease (50.8%) than those
receiving informal education (32.5%), likewise those residing within ABU quarters (71%) were better informed
than those residing outside ABU quarters (43.3%). Among children in the formal schools, 25.9% obtained
information from friends and at school (25.9%), while in the informal setting, 56% obtained information from
friends and only 16% from school. With regards to attitude and practice, 75.5% of children receiving formal
education came from homes where dogs were vaccinated against rabies and 23.3% of them play with dogs they
know, while 11.1% of those receiving informal education vaccinate their dogs and fewer of them (14.3%) play
with dogs known to them. There was however no association between the type of school and whether or not they
play with dogs (p>0.05). Many children (65.7%) of those in formal schools know the role of dogs in rabies
transmission, compared to only 8% in the informal schools. However, only 9.7% of children in formal schools
associate both signs of furious and dumb form of rabies with the disease, compared with 28% in informal
schools. Among children bitten by dogs, 87.5% of those receiving informal education received hospital treatment
compared to 63.7% of those going to formal schools. About 13% in each of the two categories received
traditional treatment. It is, therefore, important for children to be properly educated about rabies so that they can
avoid dogs, recognise potential exposures, report to a responsible adult and pass on the knowledge to their peers.