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Dec 27, 2023Article Details
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Main Article Content
Levels of Compliance to Science Laboratory Safety Procedures and Practices in Secondary Schools in Tanzania
Abstract
This study investigated the levels of compliance to laboratory safety procedures and practices in secondary schools in Tanzania and explored the influence of schools’ performance rankings (based on the Presidential Award on Environmental Conservation (PAEC) evaluation) on their assessed levels of compliance to laboratory safety procedures and practices. The study was a cross-sectional survey design that employed a checklist to obtain data. Fifty-nine schools with all three PAEC rankings, best, moderate and unsatisfactory, were randomly sampled from across districts/councils in the target regions. Data were collected using a checklist adapted from Safety in Science Laboratories Hand Book, which was completed by a laboratory technician or head of science department from each school. The results show that 95% of the schools with unsatisfactory compliance level improved on their PAEC ranking level suggesting the competition had the greatest impact on this category of schools. But the fact that 23% of the schools dropped from their earlier PAEC ranking level should be a matter of concern to all stakeholders in science education in the country. A one-way analysis of variance test carried out to test whether or not the differences among the schools’ assessed compliance mean scores were statistically significant showed that the mean of the moderate compliance schools (M = 61.1, SD = 12.07) was significantly higher than those obtained by the schools in the other two compliance levels (best and unsatisfactory) combined (M = 50.9, SD = 19.97), (M = 49.2, SD = 11.52); F (3, 56) = 3.619, p = .033. These results suggest that 3 years after the PAEC initiative, many schools ranked as having unsatisfactory compliance have improved to moderate but several ranked as having best compliance have declined to the unsatisfactory compliance level. Recommendations are made to ensure compliance to laboratory safety procedures and practices by all schools are taken more seriously by all stakeholders.
