Teachers Perceptions of the Relationship Between Learners Discipline And Internal Efficiency of Public Secondary Schools in Bungoma County

Abstract

Education plays a critical role in promoting economic, social, cultural and political development of individuals, communities, nations and humanities. The Government of Kenya has consequently been allocating substantial resources to the education sector. In fact, the Government has been shouldering tuition fees in all public secondary schools since 2008. Despite these efforts by the Government, there are notable wastage in secondary school education sector. It has been noted that even when socio-economic status of parents is partially controlled for by subsidizing the cost of education, parental support and learner characteristics may impact on internal efficiency of schools. This study was therefore, designed to establish the teachers’ perceptions of the relationship between learner discipline and internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Bungoma County. The scope of learne discipline was regular class attendance, sneaking from school, organizing strikes, using illegal drugs, engaging in sex and becoming pregnant. Internal efficiency is the flow of students from the point of entry to the point of completion with minimum dropout and repetition. In this study, the indicators of internal efficiency are progression and completion rates. A descriptive survey design was used. The sampling unitswere public secondary schools in the County. By the time of study, there were 130 public secondary schools in the County. Stratified random sampling was used to sample schools while purposive sampling was used to sample head teachers and class teachers in the sampled schools. Therefore the population was 130 head teachers and 520 teachers. A sample of 97 head teachers and 388 class teachers were drawn from a population. A questionnaire was used to gather data from head teachers and class teachers. Students’ record collection schedule was used to gather data to the study. The questionnaire and students’ record collection schedule were validated by constructing relevant items based on objectives and reviewed by four lecturers in the Faculty of Education and Community Studies, Egerton University. The lecturers’ comments were incorporated in the final questionnaire and schedule to enhance validity. A reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was calculated and found to be 0.83 using Cronbach alpha. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. Descriptive statistics used were frequencies and percentages. Inferential statistics used was Chi-square. The study established that public schools in Bungoma County were experiencing incidences of internal inefficiency. On average dropout rates were 24%. The study also established that parental role in guidance and counseling and counseling of learners,. The findings imply that a substantive percentage of learners are not completing basic education. They drop out before acquiring necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to actively participate in development process. Guidance and counseling units with qualified staff should be established in every school to enhance learner discipline.