Influence of Students’ Council Involvement in Management of Students’ Discipline in Public Secondary Schools in Naivasha Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of student councils’ involvement in management of students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Naivasha Sub-County, Nakuru, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: to determine the extent to which students’ involvement in formulation of school rules and regulations influence management of students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Naivasha Sub-County; to establish the extent to which students’ assistance in school time keeping influence management of students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Naivasha Sub-County; to examine how the involvement of students’ council in punishment administration influence management of students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Naivasha Sub-County; and to determine the how student councils’ involvement in induction process influences students’ discipline in public secondary schools in Naivasha Sub - County. The study adopted the Social Systems Theory proposed by Talcott Parsons in 1951. Stratified sampling was used to sample school categories that is; boys’ boarding, girls boarding, mixed boarding and mixed day schools. Simple random sampling was used to sample twenty (20) percent of the 1300 students’ council leaders (SCLs), to give 260 SCLs. Questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequencies analyzed data and tables were used to present the data. The findings revealed: that both Deputy Principals and students’ councils strongly agreed that students’ involvement in formulation of school rules and regulations influence management in public secondary schools, that both head teachers and student leaders strongly agreed that students’ assistance in school time keeping influence management. That there was a positive relationship between leaders’ discipline and the students’ management of students’ discipline. Recommendations: that, school principals should involve students in the management of discipline in their schools. This would reduce indiscipline cases in the school and improve on their management of students’ discipline. The research suggested a study to be done on students’ council involvement in drug and substance abuse reduction in public secondary schools.