Schools are among the critical facilities that are greatly affected by disasters not only because of the direct impacts caused by disasters to the physical infrastructure and its occupants but also because it also functions as evacuation centers for displaced families. In view of this, both the Hyogo Framework of Action and the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management recognized the need to ensure the resilience of schools to disasters by introducing both structural and non-structural interventions. Towards this end, the Comprehensive School Safety (CSS) Framework was developed that laid down three pillars that will ensure that educational management information systems and disasters management plans from the national down to the local levels are anchored on evidence-based multi-hazard risk assessment.While several planning guides and tools were developed to operationalize the three pillars of the CSS Framework, most of the studies, assessments, and evaluations conducted by both national and international agencies and instrumentalities mostly focused on the integration of disaster preparedness and response in the school curriculum (Risk Reduction and Resilience Education Pillar) as well as in the strengthening of existing instrumentalities to boost resilience of the disasters (Disaster Management Pillar). However, existing literature is limited on the actual mainstreaming of disaster risks and hazards in school planning and design, construction, and facility management as espoused under the pillar on Safe Learning Facilities. This study made an assessment of disaster risk mainstreaming in school planning and design, construction, and facility management based on localized variables adapted from internationally accepted planning guidelines operating the Safe Learning Facilities pillar of the CSS.
