Social dynamics in drug and substance abuse in Public Secondary Schools in Nandi County, Kenya

Abstract

The use of illicit drugs is a world-wide deadly phenomenon that has inflicted untold suffering on the youth of the world in their quest for identity, pleasure, socialization and easy good life. Kenyan youth has not been spared in this mayhem despite the fact that the Kenya government has injected a lot of resources into making students aware of the danger of drug abuse but schools still experience rampant usage of deadly drugs. This study was aimed at establishing networks that students utilized to infiltrate dangerous drugs in their schools that end up creating instability and harm to students and everyone else in public secondary schools. It also explored social dynamics in abuse of drugs and substance in public secondary schools. The unidentified social network has been so obscure to school administration and teachers and has led to the perpetual presence of harmful drugs in schools, regardless of several actions put in place to arrest the menace. This study’s objectives were: investigate the social networking in schools environment that put in place the supply of drugs into schools, examine the activities used by teachers at school level to address the menace, establish the challenges faced by teachers and learners on social networking in attempt to curbing the vice in schools and come up with mitigations from teachers and students on measures to be undertaken on drug and substance abuse in secondary schools. This research employed descriptive survey design which permitted the researcher to investigate and describe the present phenomenon which is social dynamics in drug abuse within its context. The approach was equally important in leading the researcher to know the participants’ opinions and attitudes on the social dynamics, abuse of drugs among learners in government secondary schools in Nandi County, Kenya. The field survey method was used to gather the qualitative and quantitative data. Nandi County has 235 secondary schools and an estimated population of 47,000 students. The institutions that participated in this study were selected from the strata using purposive sampling and unsystematic sampling methods. A sample of secondary schools was randomly selected for this study. The sampling matrix consisted of counselors, Deputy Principals, teachers handling Essential Life Skills subject and 1002 students. One hundred and twenty students participated in Focus Group Discussion. The total sample size was 1272 respondents. Data was collected using open and closed ended questionnaires. The data gathered was analyzed using descriptive statistics, tables, graphs, frequency, percentages and pie charts. The outcome of this study showed that abuse of drugs in schools was a challenge that required to be addressed by all stakeholders in education. Drug peddlers lived within the neighborhood of schools or came from far and were all connected to a section of school workers and students, outsiders who pose as hawkers and those that camouflage as students by putting on school uniforms to avoid being netted as they sold drugs to learners during celebrations like drama and music. The study further revealed that learners had links with outsiders who surreptitiously supplied drugs, in certain agreed points, for instance, along school fences. Teachers and officers in charge of security in most schools neglected the mandate to check on students’ luggage on the onset of the opening and midterms, which provided a channel of sneaking in drugs into the institutions. In conclusion, drug and substance abuse is an ever-increasing challenge among students in Kenyan secondary schools. Most of these learners are cognizant of the consequences of Drug and Substance Abuse and yet they continue engaging themselves in it. Unearthing and addressing of Social networking behind drug abuse is required critically by every school in order to achieve a substantive decrease in drug and substance abuse among public secondary school students in Kenya. The study made the following recommendations: The head of secondary schools including teachers should be made vibrant and relevant through induction courses for effectiveness in the mitigation of abuse of substance and drugs in their places of learning. Security personnel to acquire enough training and offered with sniffer dogs that are able to detect the availability of drugs in school premises. The government should provide well trained guidance and counseling teachers that can attend to students’ needs adequately. There is a need for comparative study of social dynamics in drug and substance abuse in day and boarding secondary schools to identify the extent of the vice.