Abstract:
The study assessed the state of safety in secondary schools in Nandi North district. This
has been motivated by the persistent media reports on insecurity and school violence, a
fact that projects a grim picture that Kenyan schools are not the safe havens that the
public might have thought them to be. The main objective of the study was to establish
the safety measures available and determine the level of safety preparedness of public
boarding secondary schools in Nandi North District, while the specific objectives were:
To establish the safety measures available in schools; to assess the level of awareness and
the skills-levels of staff and students; to identify the challenges faced in the
implementation of safety measures in schools and to identify the strategies devised for
future enhancement of school safety. The study was based on the Chaos Theory which
offers lessons for managing periods of extreme instability in a system. Descriptive survey
design was employed. Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were used to
determine the sample size. Respondents included head teachers, teachers, students and
security officers. The research instruments used were questionnaire, interview schedule
and observation checklist. A pilot study was administered to verify the validity and
reliability of the instruments. Data obtained was analyzed both quantitatively and
qualitatively. Presentation of data is in form of tables, charts, graphs, frequencies, and
percentages. Microsoft Excel and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
program aided in data analysis. The findings revealed that most schools were not
adequately prepared for emergencies both in terms of planning and equipment. For
instance only 33.3% of teachers had been trained on firefighting while 33.8% had a safety
policy in their schools. The study confirmed that safety policy and training predicted
school safety since the R 2 and adjusted R 2 value of 0.769 and 0.787 respectively both
indicated that over 70% of the variance in the dependent variable can be explained by the
regression model. The t test results for the individual regression coefficient were as
follows: Safety policies (t =11.52, p<.05) and training (t = 2.25, p<.05) indicating that the
variables were statistically significant at 0.05 level. Inadequate finance was cited as the
main challenge that hindered the implementation of the safety policy. In light of these
findings, it is recommended that the government should emphasize frequent assessment
of schools by QASOs so as to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the safety
policy, enforce awareness and training programs and provide adequate funds for the
purchase of safety equipment in schools.