ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain.
Sec. Resilience
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovation Ecosystem and Technological Advances for Sustainability ResilienceView all articles
"Is Zimbabwe's Education System Disaster-Ready? Evaluating Risk Reduction Strategies in Binga District Schools" Author details
Provisionally accepted
Wilfred Lunga1,2,3
Mildred Ziweya4Jane M Kaifa5
Charles Musarurwa5
Mmakotsedi Magampa1
Caiphus Baloyi1,6*Anna Moyo5- 1Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa
- 2North-West University African Centre for Disaster Studies, Potchefstroom, South Africa
- 3University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
- 4Hillside Teachers College, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
- 5Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe
- 6University of KwaZulu-Natal College of Humanities, Durban, South Africa
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Building on the 2006 Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School campaign by the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), this study examines the role of formal education in enhancing hazard awareness and disaster preparedness among learners in Binga District, Zimbabwe a region that is highly exposed to recurring climate-induced hazards. Despite the implementation of various school-based DRR awareness and training initiatives, their efficacy remains largely unverified through empirical research. This study adopts a qualitative research design, utilizing a structured questionnaire administered to learners aged 8-18 across 20 primary and secondary schools. Key indicators assessed include disaster knowledge, hazard education participation, preparedness levels, risk perception, and community engagement. A two-tier cluster sampling strategy stratifying Binga into northern and southern zones was employed to ensure geographical representation. Findings reveal that current DRR education initiatives are inadequate in cultivating comprehensive disaster resilience among learners. The study calls for targeted programmatic improvements, including curriculum integration, teacher capacity development, and stronger schoolcommunity DRR linkages.
Keywords: Disaster risk, Disaster knowledge, Disaster Risk Reduction, Zimbabwe, Hazard awareness, School-based preparedness, Binga District
Received: 26 May 2025; Accepted: 24 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lunga, Ziweya, Kaifa, Musarurwa, Magampa, Baloyi and Moyo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Caiphus Baloyi, cbaloyi@hsrc.ac.za
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