School Discipline Essay

1. Introduction

Griffin (1994) argues that school discipline is paramount to endow each pupil with habits such as self-respect and proper pride in his own integrity. These will enable the pupils to observe the norms of good conduct when not under compulsion or supervision and will carry them eventually into adult life. Sound discipline is an essential ingredient in the creation of a happy and industrious school community. Pupils learn to the best of their abilities in an orderly and safe environment. The environment should not be intimidating and threatening to the pupil. Mothata and Squelch (1997) state that if discipline is not taken into consideration, the school environment will be dangerous and the educational process may be disrupted.

It was also noted that some teachers advised pupils who made mistakes (2%), punished pupils by picking rubbish (1%) and carrying bricks (1%). In Table 1, it was further established that pupils preferred guidance and counseling method of discipline management (40%), followed by caning (37%), warning pupils (21%), advising pupils (1%) and sending them to bring their parents (1%). The results of this research collaborates with those of Gitau (2002) who points out that guidance and counseling programmes are important in students lives as they assist them to deal with academic and developmental concerns. These findings also agree with Eggleton (2001) who asserts that effective instruction, accompanied by wide effective classroom management strategies and alternative school programmes that aim at discipline for reform, should form the disciplinary approach in schools. Disciplinary strategies for reform may include guidance and counseling and remedial assistance.

On the other hand, Rogers (2000), argues that corporal punishment and other forms of cruel and degrading punishment have been widely favored methods of managing discipline both at home and school. In his study, Rogers revealed that pupils preferred caning since it is quick and easy to administer compared

They should also provide information about the effects of physical punishment. Also, periodic appraisal of state of discipline should be carried out to identify challenges that limit its management in schools. Through this initiative it will create an overview of the major types of indiscipline cases common in schools and the effective action and management towards the same. Further, parents should always be notified of incidents in schools that need great attention and meetings arranged in schools to discuss how to deal with the challenges. It is indeed important that guidance and counseling teachers should be incorporated in the management of discipline cases fully with providing of necessary facilities and resources. In addition, the government through the Ministry of Education should organize regular training programmes for counselors to strengthen guidance and counseling department in primary schools. Lastly, the government should also sponsor workshops to train teachers on methods of