Causes of strikes and their implications for secondary school management in Kisii Central District, Kenya.

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Date
2009
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Kampala International University(KIU)
Abstract
There has been a growing concern in Kenya for the deteriorating students' discipline in secondary schools with the occurrence of incidences where students are burning school property and lynching fellow students with impunity. The problem is taking an enigmatic outlook that is becoming a worry of most stakeholders. The research was an attempt to find out the roots causes of unrest in secondary school and attitudes of the school managers vis-a-vis the occurrence. The study was a descriptive survey in design which was to establish the causes of students' strikes and their implications on management strategies in secondary schools in Kisii central district, in Nyanza province of Kenya. The target population was the secondary school students in Kisii Central District, Kenya. However, the accessible population was the 6,384 students (3,861boys and 2,523 girls) in 15 out of the 28 secondary schools which had experienced strikes in the district. Purposive sampling of the respondents from the study area was done. A sample size of 437 respondents (422 students and 15 principals) was picked for the study.Data for the study were collected using two self reporting questionnaires (one for the principals and the other for the students). To determine their reliability; the instruments were pre-tested using a sample of 10 schools from Gucha district neighboring the district of study. Using Cronbach's Alpha formula, the researcher used the instruments since they had a reliability co-efficient of 0.903 which was greater than the accepted 0.8.The validity of the instruments was established by experts from the School of Graduate Studies Kampala International University. The data were collected was analyzed using botfl descriptive and inferential statistic such as mean, standard deviation ,variance t- test Chi-square and Levene's (f-test). The major findings and conclusion of the study were: both internal and external factors led to students unrest and strikes in public secondary schools in the district of study; strikes were more rampant ion mixed secondary schools than in single sex secondary schools in the district; there was no significant gender variations in students' attitudes towards causes of strikes; and post strike management strategies effected by school boards were ineffective. The researcher recommended that mixed schools be abolished gradually since it was found that mixed schools were adversely affected by strikes. It was also recommended that research should be done on the effectiveness of fines in deterring re-occurrence of strikes.
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