Assessment of Fire Safety Management for Special Needs Schools in South Africa

The safety and well-being of learners with special educational needs in South Africa remain a paramount concern, significantly impacting their constitutional rights and dignity. Despite legislative commitments aimed at fostering inclusive education, a pervasive absence of adequate fire safety measures in special needs schools (SNSs) in South Africa has persisted, leading to the vulnerability of these learners. Tragic incidents, such as fatal fires in these schools, as reported in the literature, underscore the urgent need for immediate intervention to ensure the safety and security of these learners, especially with regards to fire hazards. This study, conducted within the Northwest Province of South Africa, assessed the state of fire safety management in SNSs by applying a series of chi-squared (chi(2)) tests of independence for categorical variables, descriptive statistics, and regression analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS), Version 20 and found that limited access to power is the potential root cause of fires in these schools; also, the limited amount of fire safety initiatives was a problem. In addition, the ordinal regression showed a statistically significant relationship when the question of to what extent the learners in the sampled schools are involved in fire safety programs was regressed with the questions of whether management and stakeholders were involved in fire safety programs and also on taking part in the physical fire safety programs (chi(2) = 47.412; df = 2; p < 0.001; R-2 = 70.5%). Furthermore, fire safety management was not sufficiently implemented in the sampled schools and the safety legislations of the country were not implemented accordingly when it came to fire safety. This study identified root causes of fire risks, gauged stakeholders' awareness and involvement in fire safety management, and advocated for more stringent safety policies and practices within the SNS based on the above findings.