Effectiveness of Secondary School Boards in Managing Students’ Discipline among Public Secondary Schools in Ulanga District, Morogoro Tanzania

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of secondary school boards in managing students’ discipline among public secondary schools in Ulanga District, Tanzania. The study employed mixed research approach and convergent parallel research design. The researcher used stratified sampling and simple random sampling methods to select 75 out of 298 teachers and 76 out of 324 student leaders. Purposive sampling was used to select one (1) District Education Officer, one (1) Standard Quality Assurer, one (1) Ward Education Officer, four (4) Heads of Schools and four (4) Chairpersons of School Boards. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview guides and documents. Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and thematic approach. The study revealed that although school boards discussed discipline issues in public secondary schools, they did not take any appropriate disciplinary action such as discontinuing students with disciplinary issues, warning or suspend the students. The study recommended that apart from discussing about disciplinary issues, school boards should take appropriate disciplinary actions such as suspending discontinuing and giving warnings to the students with disciplinary issues. It is recommended that the school boards should ensure constant communication with disciplinary committees to maintain students’ discipline in schools. The study further recommended that the government should enhance budgetary allocations to the schools for better effectiveness of discipline management. The Heads of schools and board members should be trained on effective leadership and the parents should be educated on the importance of cooperation in managing students’ discipline in public secondary schools.

The Role Played by Students’ Government in Managing Discipline in Public Secondary Schools

“…The discipline of students in schools all over the world needs more attention from various education stakeholders including teachers, parents, donors, organizations and the whole community (Emekako, [1]. Mlay [2] and, Liguluka and Onyango [3] argue that, students' discipline in schools is a pillar of effective teaching and learning which results in improved academic performance, upholds students' moral values [4] creates good school image leading to the production of quality education [5] According to Nnebedum and Akinfolarin [6]. discipline is an act of behaving in accordance with values, beliefs, rules and the code of conduct of a certain society or the school with the purpose of not to compel individuals to obey without questioning, but to help them control themselves, develop love and trust relationships between individuals; discipline, therefore, is the determination and implementation of rules that enable individuals to respect rights and freedoms of each other [7].…”

“…For instance, Liguluka and Onyango [3] (Ulanga district-Morogoro), Mpokera [4] (Dodoma Urban and Chamwino districts-Dodoma) and Beyanga [15] (Ngara district-Kagera). Despite, student's governments are a statutory requirement in every public secondary school and they were available, studies indicate that, the same were less involved in maintaining their fellows' discipline.…”