An assessment of effect of disaster preparedness on safety of secondary schools in Keiyo south sub county, Kenya

The study investigated the disaster preparedness and safety in secondary schools in Keiyo South Sub County. Safety for students and staff from hazards that can be created by unsafe conditions, behaviour, disasters or emergencies in schools cannot be guaranteed. Sporadic disasters related to landslides, windstorms and flooding have been frequent in the area but inadequate research has been conducted to determine the capacity of secondary schools to manage the situation. The purpose of the study was to determine disaster preparedness and its effect on safety of schools in the area. The specific objectives of the study were determine the availability of disaster preparedness materials, establish stakeholders competencies and skills in disaster preparedness, investigate implementation of disaster preparedness and find out challenges faced in disaster preparedness towards safety of secondary schools in Keiyo South. The study was guided by Contingency Theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population of this study consisted of 1568 Form III students, of secondary schools in Keiyo South Sub County. A sample size of 224 teachers and the 28 principals, 144 teachers and 319 Form III students were selected to participate in the study. The study used purposive, simple random and stratified random sampling techniques to select respondents. Data was collected through use of questionnaires, interview guides and observation checklist. Piloting was done to establish the reliability of the research instruments. An average reliability coefficient value of 0.672 was obtained for the four objectives. Data collected was analysed using descriptive (frequencies, means and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (chi square and ANOVA) with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). The results of the analysis showed that the level of implementation of disaster preparedness on safety of secondary schools was low. Only 6 out of 28 schools were found to have adequate disaster preparedness infrastructure and materials. Principals, teachers and students were found to have inadequate skills and competency in disaster preparedness and this affected the implementation of disaster management in secondary schools. This was also confirmed by chi square and ANOVA results that showed that there existed no significant difference (p>0.05) between teachers opinion on the disaster preparedness and management of secondary schools in Keiyo South Sub County. The study recommend that schools should be assisted in availing disaster preparedness materials, stakeholders should be trained on disaster responses and disaster coordination team should be created in schools to communicate and manage disasters in secondary schools in Keiyo South Sub County.