| dc.description.abstract | Physical punishment and mental harassment as methods of managing pupil discipline in primary schools are currently unlawful in line with the Basic Education Act, 2013. However, despite the ban, by the year 2015, Emuhaya Sub-County had a higher rate of indiscipline cases where there were 833(53%) cases compared to 644(43%) in Vihiga Sub-County and 543(37%) in Hamisi Sub county. The purpose of this study was to establish the implementation of ban of physical punishment and mental harassment and its influence on pupil discipline in public primary schools in Emuhaya Sub-county. The objectives of the study were; to determine the extent of implementation of ban of physical punishment in Emuhaya Sub-county, determine the extent of implementation of ban of mental harassment in Emuhaya Sub-county, to establish the influence of implementation of ban of physical punishment and mental harassment on pupil discipline. A conceptual framework consisting of implementation of ban of physical punishment and mental harassment as the independent variable and pupil discipline as the dependent variable was used. The study adopted cross-sectional and correlation research designs. The study population comprised of 501; 100 head teachers, 100 deputy head teachers, 100 class teachers, 200 pupil leaders and 1 sub county quality assurance officer. Simple random sampling was used to select 71 head teachers, 71 deputy head teachers, 71 class teachers and 142 pupil leaders. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. The validity of the research instruments were ascertained by experts in education administration whose input was incorporated in the final draft. Test-retest was conducted to determine reliability of the questionnaires that had a co-efficient of 0.78 for Pupil Leaders‟ Questionnaire (PLQ), 0.82 for Class Teachers‟ Questionnaire (CTQ) and 0.81 for Deputy Head Teachers‟ Questionnaire (DHTQ) at p-value of 0.05. Quantitative data was analyzed using percentages, means and regression analysis. Qualitative data was transcribed and analyzed into emergent themes and sub-themes to establish the influence of implementation of ban of physical punishment and mental harassment on pupils‟ discipline. The results showed that the overall mean rating on extent of implementation of ban of physical punishment was 2.89, which translated to moderate ban, mental harassment was rated at 3.87, which translated to low implementation of ban according to the rating scale. A significant strong positive relationship between physical punishment and level of discipline of pupils where ban of physical punishment accounted for 35.9% of the variation in level of pupil discipline and a weak negative relationship between mental harassment and level of discipline of pupils: where r = 0.607, N=71 and P < 0.05. This meant that ban of mental harassment did not significantly influence discipline. When ban of physical punishment and mental harassment is enforced together, it accounted for 45.2% variation in pupil discipline. The study concluded that there is a strong positive relationship between the ban of physical punishment and mental harassment and the level of ban of pupil discipline. The study recommends that ban of physical punishment and mental harassment be fully implemented in primary schools. The study may be significant in informing the stakeholders in education for example learners, teachers, policy makers and members of school management boards that the ban on physical punishment and mental harassment is indeed improving pupil discipline in public primary schools, and should be implemented. | en_US |
