An investigation of institutional preparedness in disaster Management in public secondary schools in Murang’a East Sub- County In Murang’a County, Kenya

Abstract

The main aim of disaster preparedness is to help people to avoid impending disaster threats, and to put plans, resources and mechanisms in place to ensure that those who are affected receive adequate assistance. The Ministry of Education has provided safety standards and guidelines to educational institutions in Kenya. The study was grounded on the following objectives: to determine how the management in the schools, staff training availed, financial resources and inspection provisions affect the schools disaster preparedness. The study was premised on the invitational theory as postulated by Purkey (1991). The essence of the invitational theory was to encourage learners to want to go to school which they consider as safe. The study adopted a mixed methods approach since it will involve collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. The study employed a concurrent research design which entailed collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. Questionnaires, interview schedules, check list and documentary sources were used to collect data. The study used stratified random sampling method to attain a sample of 30% of the parent population from the schools in the region. A total respondent of 9 principals and 174 teachers in public secondary schools were used; the questionnaire was used as the main instrument of research. Prior to embarking on data collection, the researcher pre-tested the questionnaires using two secondary schools in Kangema sub-county. The researcher tested the face and content validity of the questionnaire. Face validity was checked by way of employing the pre-testing method. Content validity was confirmed by adequate preparation of the instruments under the guidance of the supervisors, expert opinion, literature searches and review of the open- ended questions which helped establish the content validity. Qualitative data was analyzed first by organizing information into themes corresponding to the study objectives. Quantitative data was analyzed by use of frequencies, percentages and averages. Qualitative data was presented by way of aligning it to other documented studies on disaster preparedness in public secondary schools. The study found out that: The principals and teachers were fully aware of the requirements stipulated in the safety standards provisions. All the principals confirmed that their schools had provisions for staff training on safety and disaster preparedness. All the principals confirmed that their schools had allocated financial vote heads for safety and disaster preparedness. Most of the schools carried out irregular safety inspections in their premises. The responses reflected non adherence to the requisite standards as regards safety inspection provisions exposing the schools to high risk as regards the capacity to assure the realization of optimal standards. The study recommended that: The public secondary schools should seek to enhance their management practices. This is by way of ensuring that they have the basic provisions for safety in place and the requisite standards as regards the constitution of safety security committees are adhered to. The ministry of education should equally ensure that the provisions for training requisite in the public secondary schools as a measure of ensuring that the disasters preparedness and mitigation standards are upheld are followed. Regular inspection should be carried out by the Ministry of Education to ensure that the expected standards for safety are achieved. The essence of financial allocation for disaster preparedness cannot be underscored. It is thus imperative that the schools are sensitized on the essence of having the expected standards as regards financial provisions adhered to in the quest of seeing to it that they are prepared for disasters and any eventualities.