Abstract:
Despite existence of safety policies in secondary schools in Kenya, student mortality rates are estimated to be on
the rise from 3% to 7% annually. This study therefore, investigated school management practices as a predictor
variable in the implementation of safety standards in public secondary schools in Machakos County. The study
adopted purposive, stratified and simple random sampling techniques in which a sample size of 11 school heads,
44 teachers and 264 students was drawn from 35 public secondary schools in Machakos County, Kenya.
Questionnaire and observation checklist were used to collect data. Quantitative data was analyzed using
descriptive, correlation and regression analysis while, the qualitative data from open-ended questions was
analyzed thematically and presented using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that school management
practices in the County such as; allocation of adequate funds and system support had a significant influence in
coordination of implementation, evaluation and control of safety standards in public secondary schools.
However, the findings showed that: the school heads lacked security plans or effective ways of sensitizing students
and the staff on safety standards; Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (QASOs) from the Ministry of
Education neither visited schools nor facilitated training on disaster management as required. Based on these
findings school management should frequently organize seminars for training staff and school workers on
disaster management. In addition, there is need for QASOs and school heads to intensify supervision in schools
and create awareness on the need for school safety among staff and students.
