AFRICA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY KISII CAMPUS

NAME: ID NO.: ISSABELLA KERUBO NYAOSO 10A EDU 057

UNIT TITLE: EDU COMPARATIVE EDUCATION UNIT CODE: EDU 403 TASK: Compare and contrast the disaster occurrence in Nyanza secondary schools with any other province of your choice.

PRESENTED TO: MAURICE ONYANGO AKUMU DATE DUE: SEPTEMBER 2011

Table of Contents

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INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 1 DISASTERS IN NYANZA PROVINCE .......................................................................... 1 DISASTER IN EASTERN PROVINCE........................................................................... 1 SIMILARITIES .......................................................................................................... 2 DIFFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 3 MEASURES PUT IN PLACE....................................................................................... 4 WHAT IS TO BE ADOPTED ...................................................................................... 5 REFERENCES........................................................................................................... 6

INTRODUCTION
According to the Us Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a disaster is an occurrence of a natural catastrophe, technological accident or human caused event that has resulted in severe property damage, deaths and multiple injuries. Natural disasters include drought, floods earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides storms, diseases, drought, floods, landslides and fires. On the other hand, man-made disasters include bomb blasts, conflict, strikes and even chemical leaks. In the recent past, the number of disaster situations in schools has escalated in both number and complexity. The general expectations by the parents and the society at large is that the schools have both moral and legal obligations to provide safe and secure learning environment to students placed under their care.

DISASTERS IN NYANZA PROVINCE

Nyanza Schools experiences a number of both natural and man-made disaster, the most common being weather related including floods whereby parts of that province like Nyando, Rachuonyo , Kano plains ,Nyakach and Migori are known to experience flooding thus school going children are most affected due to increased cases of diseases like diarrhoea and contamination of water and sewerage caused by floods. Schools also tend to be washed away by the raging floods causing injury and also death.HIV /AIDS is also rampant in this area and school going children are mostly affected hence disruption of studies. Schools in this region have also not escaped the wrath of lightening cases striking classrooms and fires that ravage school property causing disruption of studies and also strikes that end up causing injuries, damage of school property and also deaths to students

DISASTER IN EASTERN PROVINCE

Eastern province being a semi-arid area is prone to harsh weather conditions rendering the communities within the region vulnerable to natural disasters mainly droughts. Due to its fragile ecosystems, unfavorable climate, poor infrastructure and historical marginalization, these areas represent a major development challenge and School children are mostly affected.

SIMILARITIES
Fires keep posing a big threat in schools and there has been adverse damage of property and loss of students lives. A good example of this in Eastern province is a fire that broke out in Kyanguli secondary school where 67 students lost their lives after arsonists locked the dormitory and set it ablaze. The same is the case in Nyanza province whereby Sameta boys secondary school in Kisii County whereby the school caught fire in June due to an electrical fault. In both Nyanza and Western provinces, strikes have also become a big menace in secondary schools whereby students air out their grievances through destroying the school property worth millions of shillings that leads to the ultimate closure of the schools. This also comes with additional burden to the parents who have to fund the buildings of facilities destroyed during the strikes. Learning is thus hampered in such schools. Diseases have become rampant among school going students .In Nyanza province for example, HIV/AIDS is so rampant especially among the youth who attend secondary schools thus the affected students have to drop out of school thus learning is disrupted for such students. The same is the case with Eastern province especially for students who live near Sultan Hamud

areas since the long distance truck drivers make a stopover there and lure the young school going girls into sex thus increasing the risk of infection. Lightning is another major disaster in schools in Nyanza province as well as Eastern Province. In Nyanza for example Toku Secondary school was struck by lightning instantly killing two students and injuring 28 others(Nairobi Star 30th June 2011).In Eastern province, three students died following a lightning strike at Kisima village in the newly created Buuri district.

DIFFERENCES
School going students in Eastern province especially day scholars have had a problem with wild animals that escape the game parks and attack them as they go to school. The most common cases are snakes due to the high temperatures in eastern province. Students thus skip school for fear of being attacked thus disrupting learning in schools. In Nyanza province though such cases of attacks are very rare. Due to the semi-aridity of Eastern province, students in that province have a problem of food insecurity as compared to students in Nyanza schools. Schools in areas such as Isiolo, Marsabit, Makueni and Kitui are most affected since students mostly depend on relief food from the government which is not so consistent thus when there is no food, the learning process is hampered. The opposite is with Nyanza schools especially in Kisii County whereby food is in plenty and thus learning in school is not affected by school insecurity.

Nyanza province unlike Eastern is renowned for flooding especially areas such as Nyando, Rachuonyo, Nyamasaria and Migori. In Nyando for example in the year 2004, 10,000 people lost their lives due to floods. Schools going children are affected since the schools buildings could be
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washed away and going to school becomes a problem since some students have to row in canoes to school thus endangering their lives. There is also contamination of water hence there is increased cases of diseases such as diarrhea. Schools in Eastern province on the other hand have very minimal problems with flooding since floods occur once in a long time. In Nyanza province, there are instances of tsetse flies especially in Lambwe valley that get to bite students hence they get affected by Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). When the students are bitten, they feel drowsy and sleepy thus they cannot concentrate in the classrooms but fortunately, there are no such case in Eastern province. Some parts of Nyanza province for example Kisii County are known to have landslides

MEASURES PUT IN PLACE

i. To curb the disaster of fires in secondary schools, some schools have introduced forums for fire drills, and training on First Aid so as to be prepared in the event of fire. Fire extinguishers have also been bought in most schools so as to help fight fire. ii. School administrators have also come up with a policy of including students in decision making on school matters to ensure their interests are adopted in the administration of the schools as to avoid students unrest. iii. Most schools have heeded to the advice of putting up lightening arrestors in the school so as to prevent lightening striking schools and casing damages and deaths among students.
iv.

Precautionary measures have been put in place so as to make sure electric wiring is well done and exposed electrical wires are done away with.

WHAT IS TO BE ADOPTED
To achieve reasonable levels of disaster minimization, it is necessary to reduce the adverse effects of disaster through effective precautionary measures.

i.

The ministry of education should establish mobile boarding schools in the affected areas which can accommodate both the students and teachers in order to reduce the trend of dropouts and wastage among school in the

ii.

Disaster reduction initiatives should be rooted in schools and in educational programmes, but also in social community programmes and activities. The ministry of education should establish a special course for schools on the effect of disaster on development that can be integrated with other courses in the learning activities.

iii.

The ministry of works should perform safety assessments on school buildings now and then so as to ensure safety of students.

iv.

Schools should come up with early warning systems to help control fires in its early stages for example alarms.

REFERENCES
Cunny F. (1983). Disaster and development. Oxford University Press Oxford Educational research and review vol 3(3) pg 154-161 may 2008 Nairobi Star 30th June 2011. UNDP (2004). Reducing Disaster: A challenge for Development: Global report. UNDP geneve Republic of Kenya (2004). Flood management strategy for Lake Victoria basin Kenya, Draft report. Kenya Redcross Disaster Relief and Preparedness handbook.