Influence of home based factors on students’ unrest in public secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

Over the past two decades, Public Secondary Schools in Kenya have experienced persistent cases of student unrest, some of which have bordered on criminal activity and have led to massive loss of property, student learning time and even student arrests. The purpose of the study was to establish how home based factors influence student unrest in Public Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to assess the relationship between parenting behaviour and student unrest in public secondary schools, to establish the influence of parental economic status on student unrest and to determine the role of student family background on student unrest in Public Secondary Schools. The study was guided by the Social Learning Theory as postulated by Albert Bandura. The target population for the study consisted of principals, deputy principals, and teacher counsellors and form four students in 18 public secondary schools that experienced unrest over the past three years preceding the period of this study. Simple random sampling was used to select 6 schools and 278 form four students while Purposive sampling was used to select 6 Principals, 6 deputy principals and 6 teacher counsellors which were designated participants for the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Structured questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data from participants. Frequency APA tables and percentages as well as charts were used to present and interpret the data. Qualitative procedures were used to analyze and report results from interviews. The study findings revealed that students that lived in home which consisted of poor parenting practices such as permissive and authoritarian parents, being showered with financial privileges and broken family structures with elements of violence were most likely to participate and initiate strikes in secondary schools. The study recommends that an operational student data base on student background be developed to enable institutions prepare for likely triggers of unrest and guidance and counselling departments in schools be manned by professionals to avert catastrophic unrest cases.