An Investigation of the Causes of Indiscipline in Secondary Schools in Tongaren Division of Bungoma North District - Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of causes of students indiscipline in secondary schools in Tongaren Division of Bung oma North District. It sought to establish whether or not students discipline was influenced by these causes among other factors. The researcher was guided by the conceptual approach, which explained the interaction between the causes of indiscipline namely; parental support, examination stress, drugs and substance abuse, type of school leadership, school culture, boy-girl relationship and indiscipline itself. A descriptive survey design was used. Data was collected by use of questionnaires. Stratified random sampling was employed to categorize schools into girls boarding, boys boarding, mixed boarding/day and mixed day. Simple random sampling was then used to select 12 schools from the 24 secondary schools in the Division. At the school level the researcher applied simple random sampling technique to select 20 form 3 students, while purposive sampling was used to select 5 teachers from each school. Thus, a total sample of 240 students, 60 teachers and 3 education officers participated in this study. The data collected was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics in which percentages, frequencies and tables were utilized. The study revealed that students discipline affected their academic performance. Secondly causes of indiscipline in schools were; lack of parental support, examination stress, drugs and substance abuse, boy/girl relationship, type of school leadership and school culture.