Challenges facing leaders in management of discipline:A case of secondary schools in Kosirai Division, Nandi County, Kenya.

Abstract

Student leaders in school play a very important role in enhancing discipline among the students however they have been faced with a lot of indiscipline challenges from the students making it difficult for them to perform their management duties in secondary schools in Kenya. The purpose of the study was to find out the challenges facing the prefect in the management of discipline in secondary schools in Kosirai Division, Nandi County. The objectives were to; investigate the drugs use related challenges facing student leaders in discipline management, to establish the academic performance related challenges facing student leaders in discipline management, to find out parental expectation challenges facing student leaders in discipline management and to find out school management expectation challenges facing student leaders in school discipline management in Nandi County. This study was based on classical theoretical framework by Lunnenberg (1992), which asserts that student leaders must have authority in order for them to perform their duties effectively. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. Data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively and presented in form of frequency tables. Chi-square and correlation analysis were adopted to test the relationship between the study main variables. High confidentiality was assured to the respondents during the collection of research data. Data was presented in form of frequency distribution tables. SPSS was used for data analysis. A total of 183 students/student leaders, 50 teachers and 12 deputy principals were conducted for the study. The study findings indicated that there is use of drugs amongst high school students and that student leaders encounter problems when dealing with students who use drugs and thus end up performing poorly as they tend to use much of their time in dealing with discipline problems amongst drug abusers. The parents in most cases do not want their daughters/sons to be student leaders as they believe that being a prefect affects one’s performance therefore studies on drug abuse amongst students should be focused on the causes of drug abuse and that there should be a concerted effort by all the education stakeholders to minimize the drug abuse and abuse amongst the youth in the society. The study recommended that most studies on drug abuse have fallen short of identifying the root cause of the problem, Therefore studies should be focused on the causes of drug abuse/use by secondary school students and the role of student leaders in discipline management should be redefined to avoid conflict amongst the students and student leaders. The study is expected to contribute to the advancement of knowledge about student leaders' involvement in management of discipline and the challenges that they face in secondary school. It would lead to the improvement of the implementation of an effective and efficient management system in secondary schools. The study will be of immediate benefit in formulating policies governing management systems in secondary schools. Similarly, results of this study will enlighten secondary school management on how they can improve prefect performance in management of discipline in school. Finally, the study will form a base on which other researchers will develop their studies related to the student leaders system