Prevalence of drug abuse and indiscipline among students in Public secondary schools in Nyeri North Sub-County, Nyeri County in Kenya

Abstract

Drug abuse and indiscipline are the major problems affecting secondary school students today. These problems impact negatively on the academic, social, psychological and physical development among the students. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing prevalence of drug use and indiscipline among secondary school students in Nyeri North Sub- County, Nyeri County. The study was guided by the following objectives: To establish the influence of parenting roles on prevalence of drug use and indiscipline among secondary school students, to determine whether guidance and counseling is effective in curbing drug use and indiscipline among secondary school students, to establish the influence of school administration on prevalence of drug use and indiscipline among secondary school students and to establish the influence of peer pressure on prevalence of drug use and Indiscipline among secondary school students. The study employed descriptive survey design, the target population was 7569 students 3199 boys and 4370 girls enrolled in 33 public secondary schools in Nyeri North Sub-County. The accessible population was 1,569 Form Three students. Out of this population, a sample of 120 students was selected from nine public secondary schools through simple random sampling. One counseling teacher from each school will be selected through sampling. Data from students was collected using a students’ questionnaire and counseling teacher’s data was collected through interview sessions. Reliability of the research instruments was ensured through piloting the research instruments using a student sample size of thirty selected from three public secondary schools in Muranga County. The collected data was quantitative. Data analysis will utilise descriptive statistics with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study findings was interpreted and discussed. The findings were presented using frequency distribution tables, graphs and pie charts. The study recommends that; the government should put in place measures of limiting easy access to drugs and substances; there is need for affirmative policy formulation to provide/encourage use of student friendly disciplinary measures like guidance and counseling by professional teacher counselor. Secondary schools should have qualified guidance and counselling teachers to help students struggling with drugs, Teachers training curriculum should be modified to incorporate school discipline studies particularly drug abuse and the Ministry of Education Science and Technology should expand its spheres of coverage to incorporate school principals in addressing the challenges faced in enhancing student discipline. Guiding and counseling should be emphasized when enhancing student discipline by sensitizing the teachers and students on the importance of counseling. More and more teacher counselors should be trained in guidance and counseling. Democratically elected student council should be empowered to coach other students on schools norms and values hence strengthening peer counseling.