| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors influencing the
compliance with safety standards in public secondary schools in Nyeri Central
district, Nyeri County. The study aimed to achieve this by assessing the extent
to which student population, school physical environment, students’ discipline
as well as students’ training on safety affected the compliance with the safety
standards manual for schools. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory,
which advocates for safety and security as fundamental human needs, was
reviewed. The study adopted a descriptive research design and targeted all the
principals, heads of Guidance and Counseling departments, student leaders
(captains) and First Aid or St John’s clubs’ students from each of the 17 public
secondary schools in Nyeri Central District. The study sampled 17 principals
17 heads of departments and 51 students from the 17 public secondary schools
in Nyeri Central district, Nyeri County. Data was collected using
questionnaires, interview schedules and an observation checklist. Data
analysis involved both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Data was
presented in frequencies and percentages in the form of tables and figures. The
study found that there was congestion among the public secondary schools in
the study. All the Heads of Departments (n =15) confirmed that there was
congestion in their respective schools which posed a challenge to compliance
with safety standards. The school physical environment was well taken care
of in terms of safety standards; emergency doors that open outwards, enough
lighting as well as ventilation in rooms and pathways and grass covered fields
were the features present in all schools. The schools in the study had some
indiscipline cases but they were few mostly regarding substance abuse. The
majority (82%) of the principals in the study showed that discipline levels
affected the compliance with safety standards to a small extent. There was no
training of students on safety; all the principals in the study (n = 14) indicated
that students were only trained on first aid administration. The study
concluded that the student population as well as the lack of training of students
on safety was bad predictors of the compliance of schools with the safety
standards manual. The study also concluded that though there were
indiscipline cases, they did not pose a threat to student safety; this was
attributed to major indiscipline cases being few and far in between. The study
recommended the building of more public secondary schools and expansion of
the existing school facilities to ease congestion. The study also recommended
training teachers on safety with a view to improving their capacity to teach
their students on the same. The study also recommended that The MoE
Directorate of Educational Standards and Quality Assurance Commission
should establish routine inspection to ensure that safety standard guidelines are
adhered to at all times. | en |
