ASSESSMENT OF PHYSICAL SECURITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES APPLIED BY PRINCIPALS FOR ENSURING SAFETY IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

The study assessed the physical security management practices applied by principals for ensuring safety in secondary schools in Anambra State. One research question guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised 258 public secondary schools’ principals. A 15 items structured questionnaire which was validated by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka was used for data collection. The questionnaire was structured on a five-point rating scale. To establish the reliability of the instrument, it was administered on 10 Principals of Public Secondary Schools in Enugu Metropolis, Enugu State who were not included in the population of the study. The Cronbach Alpha reliability method on the obtained data yielded internal consistency value of 0.70. Out of the 258 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 238 copies were returned and were used for data analysis. The data collected from the respondents were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. Findings of the study indicated that principals of public secondary schools in Anambra State applied physical security management practices to a low, location and gender did not significantly affect the respondents mean ratings of their application of physical security management practices for ensuring safety in secondary schools. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others that the State government through the State Ministry of Education should ensure the provision of physical security management infrastructures and tools for secondary school safety. It was also recommended that secondary school principals should ensure that school identity cards are made for students’ teachers and other staff as well as badges or tags for visitors in the schools.