| dc.description.abstract | This environmental audit is for an educational institution called Oshwal Academy
Primary School. The aim of the environmental audit is to safe guard the environment and
conserve resources for sustainable development. The environmental audit was undertaken
to show the areas of strengths and weaknesses, how well the school follows the
legislative regulations related to the environment, how it would help solve environmental
problems in the school and its environs, disposal of waste techniques, potential
environmental management constraints and the focus of the future audits. The research
objectives were to find out if the school is complying with environmental audit
regulations; to establish the findings and impacts of the initial environmental audit done
in 2005 and whether the mitigation's are. being put in place; to evaluate the recurring
problems like paper, water and electricity wastage and to assess the best way forward for
improving environmental quality. Three statistical hypotheses were also formulated.
They were on paper, water and electricity wastage. The study was conducted using questionnaires as the principal data collection tool to
obtain primary data from the staff and students of Oshwal Academy Primary School and
the neighbourhood around the school. The sampling frame was obtained by selecting the
students and staff using the random sampling method and systematic sampling for the
neighbourhood. A total of 41 students, 31 staff and 31 neighbours were selected. The data
was analyzed using descriptive statistics which included comparisons and percentages
and inferential statistics which were chi-square, spearman's rank correlation and student
t-test. Research on the wastage of water, electricity and paper were also done. The research
came up with an unusual finding regarding the water wastage from normal and press-on
taps. According to many past research findings, normal taps have been known to waste
more water. But the current research findings have shown the opposite. Also the research
findings have shown that both paper and electricity can be conserved in the school if
better environmental awareness is created. The findings have also shown that the school
has good afforestation practices and the school is a secure and safe place for both
students and staff. However the research found out that the neighbourhood complained of
traffic problems due to a high number of cars coming to drop and pick children. The
findings have also indicated that the emergency preparedness which the school has is good. The research also found out that the school just had its initial audits done in 2005
and it was done by an external auditor. Since then an environmental audit has never been
done. The study has established that the school has been trying to comply with
environmental laws and legislations but there have been lapses in many areas. However
this would have been done better if every year an environmental audit was being done
after the initial audit. The major recommendation which the school needs to put in place is to change the presson
taps with the alternative - normal taps. Another recommendation which also needs to
be put in place immediately is an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) which the
school management must enforce after its placement. The plan would also emphasize on
which acts need more enforcement, how to reduce wastage, how to reuse and recycle
paper and also plan ahead in case any new infrastructure is to be built so as to check that
adequate sunlight penetrates in the new building so as to save on power. The research
also recommends that the school must either do self audits or get an external auditor
every year for doing the environmental audits which would help the school to check on
its compliance with all environmental related acts, conserve resources and ensure
sustainable development. The report consists of five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction background of the study, problem statement, study objectives, conceptual framework, justification, scope
and limitations of the study as well as definitions of concepts. Chapter two discusses
literature review in detail on environmental audits and the views of different authors on
the same. Chapter three explains the location, design and facility layout as well as the
organogram of the school management. Chapter four comprises of methodology which
includes how primary and secondary data was derived, sampling methods used and
environmental legislations of Kenya used in the research. Chapter five gives the results
and discussions in all areas of inputs like electricity, energy, paper and water. The
compliance and no-compliance areas of environmental laws followed by the school are
also tabulated in chapter six. The results of hypothesis testing are also explained. Chapter
six gives the conclusions of the research as well as recommendations for action in order
to improve on environmental audits for the school in the near future. Chapter six is
followed by bibliography and annexes. The annexes have questionnaires used to sample
the neighbourhood, staff and students as well as a checklist used during this research. | en |
