1. Prepared by George Khisa 10th February, 2017
An Assessment of the School Safe Zones Project and Implementation of the School Safety Manual in Murang’a County-Kenya
Prepared by
George Khisa
10th February, 2017

2. Introduction
Church World Service (CWS) and Ministry of Education (MOE) in Kenya launched the School Safe Zones (SSZ) program in 2003, to enhance safety in school environments.
The program was piloted in 10 primary schools; later expanding to 70 schools in five Counties.
In 2008, MOE and CWS released a “Safety Standards Manual” for schools in Kenya.
This is a report of an assessment of the efficacy of the SSZ program.
Assessment covered Murang’a East and Gatanga sub-counties of Murang’a county.

3. Methodology The assessment was done at two levels:
First, data were collected from 29 purposively sampled school heads from both Murang’a East and Gatanga sub-counties on their familiarity and use of the manual.
Second was an assessment comparing select school safety indicators between six project schools and six non-project schools in Murang’a East sub-county.

4. Key Findings - 1 Level of awareness of School Safety Manual was high:
Awareness and Accessibility of the SSZ Manual
Level of awareness of School Safety Manual was high:
Awareness of the manual was high regardless of whether a school was in the SSZ project or not.
Although only 17 schools in Murang’a county were in the project, 89% of the 29 school heads interviewed knew about the manual.
This was due to spill over through peer-to-peer interactions & MOE work.
“Principals from other schools come for benchmarking to see how our school has improved (in aspects of safety)” — Principal, SSZ School, Murang’a East.

5. Key Findings - 2 Accessibility of the School Safety Manual was high:
76% (22) school heads said they had received a copy of the manual.
The number of copies varied from school to school—the lowest being one and highest 15.
Of the 22 who had received, 21 (95%) reported having read the manual and 10 of these had been trained on it by MOE.
Number of Hard Copy SSZ Manuals Received per School

6. Key Findings - 3
Average Rating of Clarity of SSZ Manual Components
Most topics in the School Safety Manual were clearly conveyed by MOE:
The highest topic was rated at 89 per cent level of clarity and the lowest at 78 per cent.
Teachers felt that MOE trained well on the manual but time for asking questions was inadequate.

7. Key Findings - 4 Most schools had implemented the manual:
Self-rating on the use of the SSZ Manual by School Heads
Most schools had implemented the manual:
The level of implementation varied. Schools in the SSZ project had implemented more components than comparison schools.
86% of school heads said they had a circular or policy on School Safety.
School heads rated their implementation at different levels but most rated themselves at 50%-75%.
“I Have 17 schools that have been under SSZ program and can confirm that in those schools, implementation is very good. It is at 90%”.—MOE Official, Murang’a East

8. Key Findings – 4 cont… The safety measures implemented included
Removal of metal grills from dormitory windows
Creation of additional doors
Changing doors and windows to open outwards.
Fencing the school and installing gates
Training the students on first aid
Making provisions for students with disabilities
Planting grass in the school compound to reduce dust and slippery grounds
Food and hygiene safety
Involving students in cleaning and beautification exercises
Increasing water sources among others

9. Key Findings - 5
Average Score on Food Security
SSZ schools performed better than comparison schools in most safety aspects
Dealing with disaster response
Life skills teaching and school fencing
Having hand washing stations and kitchens
Daily use of these hand washing stations by children
SSZ schools also scored better in food security indicators:
85% had a feeding program compared to 15% for comparison schools
85% reported that parents contributed to the feeding program compared to 65% for comparison schools
Most SSZ schools had reliable water sources such as piped water while most comparison schools used less reliable sources (rain water).

10. Key Findings – 5 cont…
In a few aspects, SSZ schools and comparison school had similar scores.
The two tied in dealing with child abuse
working with children with special needs
condition of classrooms and chairs
Maintenance and usage of toilets
Comparison schools had lower pupil/toilet ratio than SSZ schools. They also had lower ratios in hand washing stations and boys’ drinking water stations.
The school has moved from below average to above average performance, this is attributed to presence of water in the school compound as compared to before where they obtained water from the river that was dangerous, ….Chair, BOM, Ndikwe.

11. Key Findings - 6
Ave KCPE Performance Trend for SSZ and Comparison Schools
Schools reported several positive changes in schools after implementing safety measures:
Improved infrastructure and food security
Enhanced parent/community support
Better teacher-pupil relations
Better pupil retention
Less absenteeism
Improved academic performance. Average KCPE mean score for SSZ schools was on an upward trend but for comparison schools was on a downward trend
Teachers: As a result, their schools were being used by MOE as role models from which other schools could learn.
The school performance has improved since the initiation of the (SSZ) project…— Chairperson, BOM, Gakindu Primary School.

12. Key Findings - 7
Activities Carried Out in Last Two Years
Community involvement was higher in SSZ schools than comparison schools:
Contribution of money, materials and labour
Working with local health facilities to provide services
BOM members from SSZ schools, who were interviewed demonstrated a high level of consciousness of school safety.
In SSZ schools however, the frequency of parents’ meetings varied from school to school.
Some BOM members reported that parents met twice a term but others said the meetings were irregular and depended on need.
“There is a very big change (in parental ownership). Parental support towards education of the child has been occurring. They have supported meal programs and PTA initiatives like buying of school resources,”— BOM member, Mbiri.

13. SSZ Schools’ BOM Members' Consciousness of School Safety Aspects: Their Statements

14. Key Findings - 8
Grant Application Activities
SSZ schools had mobilized more resources to support school safety than comparison schools:
A higher proportion of SSZ schools had a fundraising plan, knew how to apply for external funding; and had applied for funding
SSZ schools had conducted more SMC/BOM meetings to discuss grant applications, had initiated more grant applications and had more successful applications.
The proportions of SSZ schools and comparison schools were comparable in four aspects including having strategic plans, plans on school safety, infrastructure maintenance, action plans, and priority lists.

15. Key Findings – 8 cont…
On average, SSZ schools had raised more funds than comparison schools
Average Amount of Funds Raised Per School in the Past Year (Ksh)
“Our priority for this year is to construct covered walkways. Our school is set on a hill and it is quite dangerous to walk downhill when it rains”, BOM member, Mbiri.

16. Key Findings - 9 Implementation of safety measures was hindered by:
Lack of finances
Low buy-in in some communities
Inadequate number of trained teachers
Inadequate time to focus on school safety
Inadequate knowledge and skills on fundraising for school safety initiatives among BOM members.

17. Key Findings - 10
The School safety manual has a few gaps and needs to be better disseminated in schools:
Inadequate information e.g. how to ensure security when metal grills have been removed from windows
Inadequate time allocated for training
MOE officials corroborated these sentiments and said the level of understanding and implementation of the safety manual varied from school to school. They also said that dissemination of the manual needed to be strengthened.
““Implementation of the manual has been a challenge due to varying interpretations among the different implementers hence the need for sensitization and capacity building workshops …”— MOE Official, Murang’a.

18. Recommendations -1
The SSZ project had helped improve safety in schools using fairly sustainable approaches and should be scaled up to reach more schools
Allocate more time for training on safety manual and for question and answer sessions
Distribute safety manuals to schools that have none or redistribute the manuals in the schools so that all schools have a copy
Identify and beef-up topics that are least clear
Provide more school-level, one-on-one support
Build the capacity of schools to mobilize resources to implement the manual
Identify and publicly recognize model schools

19. Recommendations - 2
Facilitate exchange learning visits to model schools
Strengthen community engagement aspects in the manual
Build the capacity of other stakeholders, such as local administration to appreciate their role in school safety
Explore using information communication and technology tools including social media, to facilitate discussions among teachers and between teachers and county-level Ministry of Education officials, in the implementation of the safety manual.