Effects of drug and substance abuse on students’ discipline in public day secondary schools in Nakuru Municipality, Nakuru
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate on the effects of drug and substance abuse on students’
discipline in public day secondary schools in Nakuru Municipality, Nakuru County, Kenya. The
study was guided by the following objectives; to identify the types of drugs and substance
abused by students in public day secondary schools in Nakuru Municipality, to establish the level
of the students’ discipline in public day secondary schools in Nakuru Municipality, to determine
the extent to which drug and substance-abusing parents influence students’ discipline in public
day secondary schools in Nakuru Municipality and to establish the influence of students’
perceptions of the effects of drug and substance abuse on students’ discipline in public day
secondary schools in Nakuru Municipality. This study employed a descriptive survey research
design. The target population for this study consisted of all 18 public day secondary school
comprising of 18 guidance and counseling teachers, 10,571 students. Stratified random sampling
method was used to select schools and then simple random sampling method was used to select
respondents from various strata. The sample size was 380 respondents which comprised of 9
guidance and counseling teachers and 371 students. Data collection tool for this study was the
questionnaires. Pilot study was conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the research
instruments. The data was analyzed quantitatively guided by the study objectives. The researcher
used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze the data. Results were presented
as per the research question. The study established that, students abused cigarette, miraa and
alcohol to a large extent, teachers experienced students’ indiscipline due to drugs and substance
abuse in their school, students whose parents use drugs and other substances also learn the
behavior and use drugs too and drug and substance abusing students always disobey school rules
and regulations. 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. iv. 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.
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- Faculty of Education (FEd) [5964]
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