Fire Safety Awareness and Practices of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Students in a Philippine Public Secondary School

Abstract

The Philippines is one of the countries that faced severe fire disasters. However, fire received little recognition in disaster readiness and risk reduction. Seeing that students are gathered in one place, a fire safety assessment is necessary to ascertain their acquisition of competencies in fundamental concepts of fire. Anchored on KAP theory, this study investigated the Grade 12 STEM students' safety awareness before, during, and after a fire in relation to practices in public schools in the central Philippines relative to sex and family monthly income. Using a descriptive, comparative, and correlational approach, a validated and reliability-tested questionnaire was administered to 94 randomly selected students. Mean, Standard Deviation, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman Rank Correlation were utilized in data analysis. Overall, students possessed a prominent consciousness and could relatively demonstrate the necessary measures and responses to prevent and suppress the fire. Comparatively, no significant difference exists when grouped according to sex and family monthly income. Concurrently, a significant relationship was observed between their awareness and practices, implying that students who possess the consciousness of fire safety will likely demonstrate the measures against the dangers of fire, which validated the KAP theory. Continuous improvement of teachers' instructions is crucial to strengthen students' readiness and resilience in disasters like fire.