Perceptions on opportunities and challenges for public Secondary school principals in the implementation of Selected safety policy guidelines in Kisumu West district, kenya

Abstract

Safety of students in schools is a matter of concern globally. In Kenya, students have lost their lives in the past five years due to arson, accidents and poisoning in spite of existence of Safety Standards Manual for Schools of 2008. In Kisumu West District, there have been 3 cases of arson, 105 sexual harassment, 6 school bus accidents, 66 cases of physical molestation, and 33 cases of food poisoning. The study established perceptions on opportunities and challenges for Principals of public secondary schools in Kisumu West District in the implementation of selected safety policy guidelines. Objectives of the study were to; establish opportunities and challenges for principals of public secondary schools in Kisumu West District in the implementation of: School Community Relations guidelines, Health and Hygiene, Transport Safety and Food safety guidelines. The study was based on a conceptual framework showing opportunities and challenges for public secondary school principals in the implementation of selected safety guidelines. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population consisted of 1District Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (DQASO), 33 principals, 280 teachers and 2166 form three students. Saturated sampling was used to select 1DQASO and 30 Principals while 162 teachers and 327 form three students were sampled using simple random sampling. Questionnaires, interview schedule, focus group discussion and observation checklists were used to collect data. The instruments were piloted among 3Principals, 16 teachers and 30 students to establish reliability. Reliability coefficient index for questionnaires was determined at 0.75. Face validity of the instruments was ascertained by experts from the Department of Educational Management and Foundations of Maseno University. Qualitative data collected from the interview schedule and focus group discussion were transcribed, organized and categorized into emerging themes and subthemes. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, means, and inter quartile ranges. Findings revealed that principals had great opportunities (3.8) to implement school community relations and health and hygiene (3.8) guidelines, less opportunity to implement transport safety (3.1) and food safety (3.2). However, principals had bigger challenge in the implementation of transport safety (4.0), and food safety (3.5), big challenge to implement health and hygiene (3.4), and school community relations (3.1) guidelines. The study concluded that principals of public secondary schools in Kisumu West District have opportunities to implement the selected safety guidelines. However, there are challenges hampering implementation of the guidelines. The study recommended that principal should advice the government to allocate more money to schools to employ trained nurses. These findings may shed light on opportunities and challenges for secondary school principals in the implementation of safety policy in schools.