| dc.description.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. | en_US |
