Factors influencing disaster management preparedness in public secondary schools in Nakuru sub county, Nakuru county

Abstract

This research focused on the factors influencing disaster management preparedness in public secondary schools in Nakuru Sub County, Nakuru County. Many of the schools still remain unprepared if disasters occur. There is a gap between policy makers and implementation in the ministry of education and the schools since the guidelines on safety in schools still seem an alien concept to many of the schools. The research was guided by the following objectives: to establish the extent to which school funding influences preparedness in disaster management; to ascertain to what extent entrenched corruption influences preparedness in disaster management and to establish the extent to which stakeholders’ participation influences preparedness in disaster management in public secondary schools in Nakuru Sub-County. The research was based on the Chaos Theory by Henri Poincare (1854-1912) whose premise is that systems sometimes reside in chaos, generating energy but without any predictability or direction. The target population of this study was the 25 Public secondary schools in the Sub County. The research used descriptive survey research as its research design so as to allow the researcher to obtain data that had not been manipulated. The Krejcie and Morgan table (1970) was used to select the sample of schools which was 24 public secondary schools. The principals, teachers, support staff, parents, school neighbours and students of the sampled schools were purposively sampled as respondents. Questionnaires and observation checklists were used to collect primary data from the respondents. A combination of both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques was used to analyse the data. The validity and reliability of the instruments was tested through piloting. The findings indicated that most schools depend on M.O.E funds (56.6%) and school fundraisings (23.3%) to facilitate disaster management preparedness; school stakeholders are partially involved in the budgetary process in their schools and they thus, lack awareness on how school funds are utilized (40%). Furthermore, the stakeholders lack adequate training (59.8%) to enlighten them on disaster management preparedness. The study recommends that all schools adapt an all inclusive and participatory approach on disaster management preparedness to ensure accountability and transparency.