Safety Practices Adopted by Administrators and Teachers of Pre-Primary Schools in Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated safety practices adopted by administrators and teachers in pre-primary schools in Enugu State. Specifically, it determined safety practices presently being adopted by administrators and teachers in the activity areas in private and public pre-primary schools in Enugu state; constraints to adoption of needed safety practices; and ways administrators and teachers could be assisted in adoption of needed safety practices. It Survey design was adopted. Population was all (2,242) registered pre-primary schools with (11,911 teachers and 2,242 administrators) in Enugu state. Multistage sampling was used to select 400 administrators and 660 teachers. Questionnaire were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations and t-test at 0.05 level of significance. Findings show only two safety practices adopted by administrators; adequate ventilation and light (63%), and controlling noise (66%) in the pre-primary schools. Teachers adopted 24 and 27 safety practices in private and public pre-primary schools respectively, including; children are arranged in the classrooms for proper supervision during activities (54.1%) (64.0%); adequate toilet hygiene (60.1%) (68.4%) and others. Other findings are 16 constraints to adaptation of safety practices by administrators and teachers. These include, lack of training for preschool workers on safety procedures (3.05±1.40); among others. Further findings are 10 ways of enhancing adoption of safety practices (X̅ ≥ 2.50). Three recommendations were made, including, training and retraining of pre-primary school workers on safety practices.