Factors that lead to secondary school students' unrest in Kigumo district, Murang'a county, Kenya

Abstract

School students’ unrest have become a real problem in our society as they have affected the education system and its stakeholders . More often than not, what students normally start as an innocent adventure turns into serious destruction that later becomes an expensive venture. Despite the tough measures imposed by the government to arrest the situation, students have continued to get involved in unrest. The nature of unrests has also taken a dramatic turn as violence and destruction of school property have increased. (Ministry of Education 2008). The purpose of the study was to investigate the actual causes of students’ unrest and strategies to curb them in Kigumo District. The objectives of the study were to: identify types and causes of Students’ Unrest in Kigumo District; determine the influence of outlawed sects on discipline; establish the effects of students’ unrest on Education and Society District; and establish strategies that can be put in place to curb Students’ Unrest in Secondary Schools in Kigumo District. The study was guided by Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory of 1964. The study used a descriptive survey design targeting the area District Quality Assurance and Standard Officer, all the 30 principals, 36 teachers and 6,000 students in all the 30 secondary schools in Kigumo District. Stratified random sampling was used to select 6 out of 30 schools to participate; each strata represented 2 Boys’ Boarding, 2 Girls’ Boarding, 1 Mixed Day, and 1 Mixed Boarding Schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 105 students from each school giving a total of 630 students. Purposive sampling was used to select 1 District Quality Assurance and Standard Officer, 6 principals and 36 teachers to participate in the actual study, giving rise to 673 respondents. Instruments used for data collection included interview guides, document analysis and observation schedules. Data was analyzed and presented in form of tables, bar graphs and pie charts. The findings of the study are expected to benefit the education stakeholders in