Security management situations in public secondary schools in north central zone of nigeria

Thesis Abstract

Most school environments no longer provide the security required for effective teaching
and learning. Today, security issue has become a major challenge in our educational
institutions. Consequently, this study set out to explore ways of improving security
situations in the North Central Zone public secondary schools. The study was a
descriptive survey study, involving 1,188 respondents, made up of 176 principals and
1012 teachers from 352 public secondary schools in North Central Zone. Two
instruments were used to collect data for the study, namely Check list on available
devices for improving security situation in public secondary schools and a four point
scale Questionnaire on improving Security Situation in Public Secondary Schools.
(QSSMPSS). Five research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. A
descriptive analyses of frequencies and percentages was used to answer the six research
questions while t-test comprising Mean and Standard deviation to answer the research
questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Also to
draw conclusion on whether there is a significant difference between the response of
principals and teachers, ANOVA sum of square (which measure the variation around
mean) was used focusing on difference between. The result showed among others that
some security devices for the improvement of security situations as well as the emergency
response plans for managing security in public secondary schools were not available in
most schools. The findings of the study also indicated that it is acceptable to have staff
and student identity cards, staff code of conduct and conflict resolution management
programmes to help the staff as well as the students know how to resolve their disputes.
The respondents agreed too that there is need to have constant searches of student’s
lockers and boxes to seize weapons and dangerous objects from the students. Based on
the findings and implications, it was recommended that the schools should purchase
security devices such as closed circuit television, sprinkler system to control fire damage
and metal dictator, build burglary doors and iron bars. It was also recommended that
emergency response plans for managing security threats such as holding emergency PTA
meetings, taking occasional roll calls of the students, constant maintenance of school
facilities, employing trained security personnel and provision of up to date emergency
response equipment should be adopted. There should also be constant student drills on
safety and security matters, constant searching of student lockers and boxes to seize
weapons and contraband materials. It was also recommended that there should be
measures for managing the security of the school plant such as having crises response
team for emergencies, having constant school site survey, building safety expectation into
the school programme and having a model school security plan. Also, the management
need to have perimeter fencing of the school environment and employ trained security
personnel to keep the school secured.
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