Involvement of Student Councils in the Supervision of their Welfare on Discipline in Secondary Schools in Migori County, Kenya

Abstract

Students’ councils leadership is a participatory form of governance, which exist worldwide and can improve discipline of learners. In Kenya, it was established in 2009 after the burning of caporal punishment, between the years 2015-2018, 31.2 % of secondary schools in Migori County went on strike, 11.7% in Homa Bay, 10.2 in Kisii and 5.7% in Narok despite government directive that these student councils to be involved in the management of schools among other policies to reduce the conflicts. This is therefore prompting a study in Migori County. The objective which guided the study was to establish the influence of involvement of student councils in the supervision of their welfare activities on discipline; The study used conceptual framework. The study used descriptive survey and ex-post facto research designs. Targeted population was 1140 respondents. Principals, Deputy Principals (DPs), heads of guidance and counseling (HGC) and Presidents of Student Councils (PSCs) and 8 Sub-county Education officers (SCDE). The researcher used purposive sampling to find 8 SCDEs and use 30 percent to get a sample of 85 Principals, DPs, HGC and PSCs from a population of 283 respectively. Data collection instruments will be questionnaires for principals, DPs and students. Interview schedules for HGC and SCDEs. Two experts from the department of Educational Administration at Maseno University will scrutinize the instruments to ensure their validity. Reliability of the instruments will be determined by employing Pearson’s product moment for the test-retest and reliability coefficient of 0.75 up to 0.99 was realized, hence the instruments were termed reliable. The findings revealed that involvement in supervision of students’ welfare on students discipline had weak positive correlation (0.071) and it was statistically significant as p-value (0.211) ˃ 0.01 level (2 tailed). The study concluded that students should be more involved in the supervision of their welfare on students’ discipline. It was recommended that students’ councils should be sufficiently prepared in their supervisory roles in school management to enhance discipline. The data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study was significant to students; principals and education stakeholders. The researcher adhered to research ethical considerations.