Successes and Challenges of Student Councils in Mitigating Student Conflicts in Secondary Schools in Kericho County, Kenya

Abstract

Several incidences of student conflicts have been witnessed in the different schools, which have caused widespread material losses and other social impacts. The objective of this study was to evaluate the Successes and Challenges of Student Councils in Mitigation of Student Conflicts in Secondary Schools in Kericho County, Kenya. The study was underpinned by the participative leadership theory. The study utilized the evaluation research design. The study targeted the following categories of respondents; students, teachers, school principals or head teachers, School boards of management, County director of education and Sub- County directors of education in Kericho county. Both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used to obtain respondents. The total sample for the study included 384 students, 120 teachers, 19 school heads or principals, 19 deputy principals, 19 members of the school boards of management, 1 County director of education and 6 sub-county directors of education. The total sample for the study was568 respondents. Data was collected through Questionnaires, Interviews and Focus group discussions. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented through frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Qualitative data analysis utilized data coding and narrative analysis and presented in form of graphs, charts and tables. The study concluded that the councils are not as effective as they should because the leaders are not trained on skills of conflict mitigation. The student council which is formed with great influence from the administration has failed to assist in conflict mitigation because the students do not trust it. The study recommends that the administration in every school should ensure they offer proper training to the student council on conflict mitigation tactics.