AN INVESTIGATION ON FIRE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

A disaster is an event that happens suddenly resulting to devastation which may result to loss of life or great damage to property, disrupting lives. Fire disaster is one of the disasters that disrupt Education in Secondary Schools in Kenya. It is of particular great concern internationally that fire disasters are on the rise, as existing studies indicate. This study was motivated by the frequent reports of occurrence of fire disasters in secondary schools, with the aim of establishing whether the schools are prepared for the next fire disaster. The purpose of this study was to investigate on fire disaster preparedness in Secondary Schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. This study was guided by the following objectives: To establish the existence of fire disaster management programs in secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya; To investigate the existence of fire disaster management trainings to students and staff in secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya; To examine the adequacy of fire fighting equipment in secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya; To assess the level of compliance to fire safety policies set for construction of Education buildings in secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya; To investigate the availability of school based psychosocial programs in secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County. Descriptive research design was employed to collect data on what, when, where, and how. The research adopted stratified random sampling to acquire a sample. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected through observation checklist and questionnaires. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics. The population of this study included 166 public secondary schools, 1792 teachers, 166 principals, and 2,732 Form III and Form IV students in Uasin Gishu County. The data was collected in a sample of 117 secondary schools, 117 principals, 327 teachers and 349 students. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The findings were: 47.9% of schools had in place fire disaster mitigation programs but the programmes were not fully functional; 41.1% of the schools didn’t conduct Fire safety trainings; 82.2% of the schools had inadequate fire fighting equipment; 75.3% of the schools had partially implemented MoE guidelines on construction of school buildings; 20.5% of the schools lacked psychosocial programs to address students and teachers psychosocial needs as an intervention to outbreak of fire disasters. The study recommends that all Educations stakeholders should come together and bridge the gaps identified in fire safety. The findings of this study will give insight to the current fire disaster preparedness in public secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The findings will be of importance to the Ministry of Education in its mandate to ensure Education is delivered in a safe environment. The study will also be important to curriculum developers of Secondary schools, by informing on existing gaps regarding fire safety in the curriculum. The recommendations of this study will be useful to mitigate fire disasters hence saving life and properties of other secondary schools.