Developing and Maintaining High Standards of Discipline Among Students in Public Secondary Schools in Nyando District, Nyanza Province, Kenya

Abstract

The increasing rate of unrest in schools that has been accelerated by factors within and outside the school environment has led to ineffective and inefficient ways in which schools are run; and at the same time it has greatly disrupted the activities and programmes of many schools in Kenya today. One of the challenges that faces the school administration is that of developing and maintaining high standards of discipline that can be sustained for longer periods of time in schools. Indeed the role of the headteacher and other members of staff has been intertwined, in that, the delegation of duties, power and authority have been blended in order to ensure that discipline is maintained vis-a-vis the rules and regulations of the school. This study sought to investigate the effective ways of developing and maintaining high standards of discipline among students in public secondary schools Nyando District. The literature review was carried out under the areas of discipline and indiscipline and the need for effective methods of developing and maintaining high standards of discipline among students in public secondary schools today. The study used ex-post facto design in both data collection and data analysis. In this research, there was no manipulation of variables as they had already occurred and the researcher only underto;k to study the relationship of manifestations of indiscipline and effective methods of maintaining and developing high standards of discipline. Data analysis and interpretation was done manually using frequency tables and percentages. The study found out that the handling of the developing and maintaining high standards of discipline is carried out differently. Some of the findings include: that there was need for the headteachers to apply the right approach in decision making as far as discipline is concerned; teachers felt that they needed to be involved in the decision making before students are punished; that the entire school community should also be involved in making school rules and there was need to use the most effective methods of enhancing, developing and maintaining high standards of discipline among the students. Taking into account that the study was delimited to Nyando District, the study made the following suggestions for further study: • A similar study - to be carried out in other districts of the countrv. to elicit a more accurate national perception of developing and maintaining high standards of discipline in schools; • In -depth research to be carried out on effective ways of dealing with indiscipline. • A study to be carried out on the key causes of indiscipline in schools.