Perceived forms of violent behaviour among secondary school students in western province, Kenya

Violent behaviour has become a contemporary issue in the Kenyan educational system. It is manifested in the form of rioting, sexual violence and bullying. This contributes to physical disability and poor academic performance in schools. In Western Province, cases of student violence in secondary schools have been reported in the recent years. For instance, in 2008, eight cases were reported, whereas in 2009 the number rose to over 30 cases. The purpose of the study was to establish the perceived of forms of violent behavior secondary school students in Western Province. The Objective of the study was to establish forms of violence as perceived by teachers and students. The study was based on the Social learning theory by Albert Bandura. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The study population was composed of 6,354 teachers and 65,969 form two students. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 364 teachers and 1,152 form two students from 213 public secondary schools. Qualitative data from interviews was transcribed and reported according to emerging themes, categories and sub-categories while quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as the frequency counts, means and percentages. The Mann-Whitney U test was also used in data analysis. Findings of the study revealed that forms of violence were; rioting, bullying, sexual violence and fighting. Recommendations of the study were that: laws related to sexual violence be enforced; ban on caning of students should be encouraged; and an anti-bullying policy be established. It is hoped that the findings of this study may assist policy makers in formulating and implementing policies that address violence in the educational institutions.