An Assessment of Safety and Health Issues in Selected Students’ Boarding Houses of Lusaka City

Safety and health management in learning environments is a growing concern in globally. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF, 2009) academic attainment is regarded as a decisive factor that determines educational quality. Therefore, in pursuing such academic attainment, students have the right to learn in a safe and healthy environment. Safety and health in class rooms, student boarding houses or hostels and other learning spaces should be taken care of if learning is to be meaningful. With reference to the argument by UNICEF, this paper explored safety and health issues in selected students’ boarding houses of Lusaka city. Using purposive and simple random sampling, a sample of 25 students living in boarding houses were randomly selected. Data was collected using unstructured interviews and focus group discussion. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. This paper established that the selected boarding houses in Lusaka city faced many safety and health challenges such as poor ventilation, fire safety, overcrowding, poor sanitary infrastructure, among others. This study established that as much as the selected boarding houses had put in place safety and health measures, there were still outstanding safety and health concerns. The study recommended that landlords for boarding houses could reduce the number of students in the boarding house to avoid overcrowding. Boarding houses owners should also ensure that waste is collected on regular basis and that boarding house owners to build more sanitary facilities and improve on the sanitation of the boarding house.