Sustainable school infrastructure for learning continuity: Health, hygiene, and safety conditions of public secondary school buildings in Kenya

Abstract

Safe and healthy school infrastructure is a key enabler of sustainable education, influencing attendance, wellbeing, discipline, and continuous participation in learning. This study examined the status of school building health-safety conditions—cleanliness, ventilation, safety provisions, and lighting—and their perceived effects on teaching and learning in public secondary schools in Nairobi and Kajiado Counties, Kenya. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used, combining questionnaires from principals, teachers, and students with interviews involving key informants (including county quality assurance officers). Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, and qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Findings suggest that classrooms and laboratories were reported as largely clean, well ventilated, and sufficiently lit, supporting learner engagement and participation in practical lessons. However, persistent challenges were identified in sanitation and shared spaces: student responses indicated concerns about toilet adequacy and cleanliness, and dining areas were less consistently maintained and more frequently reported as congested. Safety governance showed uneven readiness—many schools lacked emergency kits, and quality assurance officers highlighted limited health-and-safety training for principals and teachers, even where schools implemented local mitigation practices (cleaning routines, competitions, drills, signage, and laboratory safety rules). Participants associated healthier and safer premises with improved attendance, better discipline, stronger reading culture, fuller participation in learning activities, and reduced illness-related absenteeism. The study underscores that strengthening compliance, training, and preparedness in school facilities management is a sustainability strategy for protecting learning continuity and improving educational outcomes.