Developing a Dynamic Approach to Disaster Preparedness in Selected Secondary School: Barriers a Facilitators

Abstract

The paper ascertained the level of the disaster preparedness of selected secondary schools in Department of Education Division of Caloocan City based on government mandated policies in order to create a model for disaster preparedness plan. This is anchored on the Modern disaster theory of Chen (2013) and used the mixed method approach. It covered total of 4 (four) purposely selected public and private secondary schools in Caloocan City for School Year 2020-2021 in terms of their experiences on natural disasters. Respondents were the Principals, Assistant Principals, Social Studies and Science Coordinators, the School Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Coordinators, and one section of Grade 10 Junior High School students for each respondents school. Students, teachers and the school leaders, including members from school safety committee, needs to be trained regarding disaster preparedness to understand the disaster management framework so that they can use it as a tool to manage disasters at school. Results revealed that disaster preparedness of students and school leaders has been achieved through training and drills conducted by their schools, non-government and government institutions, past experiences from disasters during hazards and based on the knowledge received in classroom discussions and during rehearsals performed at school. Thus, schools must consider funding the training by strengthening their partnership with stakeholders towards promoting and sharing of learning goals and providing opportunities to collaborate that enhance shared responsibility across the whole school community. Keywords: Disaster, Disaster Preparedness, Secondary Schools, Barriers, Facilitators