Assessment of the implementation of safety policy in public secondary schools in Kericho West district, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine implementation of safety policy in public secondary schools in Kericho West District with the view of establishing the extent to which the underlying policies have been implemented and the factors affecting the implementation process. The study was carried out in Kericho West District with 28 Public Secondary Schools. The study covered 9 schools. Stratified random sampling was used to select schools from which data was obtained. Stratified random sampling technique was chosen because the schools have varied status such as pure boys boarding, pure girls boarding, mixed boarding/day and mixed day. The elements of safety needs in Maslow theory, security, protection and freedom from chaos are relevant to the study and formed the basis of justification for this research which made recommendation on safety procedures and preparedness. The instruments of data collection were observation schedule, the Head teachers’ questionnaire and the Quality Assurance Officers interview schedules. The selection of those tools was guided by the nature of data to be collected, the time available and the nature of respondents and objectives of the study. In order to test the reliability of research instruments the researcher carried out a pilot study in two schools in the neighbouring Kericho East District. The validity of the instruments was established based on the objectives of the study in order to capture the required information. The data from head teachers questionnaire and observation schedule was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics in terms of frequencies, percentages and means then presented using tables and graphs. This study established that the state of safety policy implementation in public secondary schools in Kericho West District was on overall partially implemented except for the requirement that Head teachers resides in school which is 100% implemented. Factors influencing the implementation of safety policy as cited by respondents are financial resources, regular assessment, and knowledge in safety, use of specialists, political goodwill and time frame. The study also establish that outsourcing for funds, training of personnel, creating awareness in the community, adherence to Government policy, Architectural design, Environmental design and design of assembly points as possible solutions to the challenges of implementation. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education formulates a more elaborate policy to address student’s safety in Schools.