Discipline Management Strategies and Students’ Delinquency in some secondary schools in Mfoundi division: Case of Yaounde III and Yaounde VI

Abstract

This study titled “Discipline Management Strategies and Students’ Delinquency” in some secondary schools in Mfoundi division: Case of Yaounde III and Yaounde VI was motivated by an empirical discovery that, despite the conviction that students are well disciplined in schools to perpetuate good morality and conduct, secondary school students are still trapped in the dragnet of delinquency. This delinquency is manifested in the form of bullying, aggression, fighting, insults, blackmail, sexual harassment and drug abuse. The research problem which is students’ delinquency was brought forth to show the gap existing between what is expected of school discipline and what obtains on the field. Based on this, four discipline management strategies; School rules and regulations, school preventive measures, school monitoring and school sanctions, were investigated. The main objective was to find out the influence of discipline management strategies on students’ delinquency and how reliable good discipline strategies can prevent delinquency in Mfoundi division. From this, four specific objectives were stated while the following research hypotheses were formulated: General hypothesis: Discipline Management Strategies influence students’ delinquency in some secondary schools in Mfoundi division, Yaoundé. Specific hypotheses: – RH1: School rules and regulations have an impact on students’ delinquency in some secondary schools in Mfoundi division. RH2– School preventive measures have an influence on Students’ delinquency in some secondary schools in Mfoundi division. RH3–School monitoring affects students’ delinquency in some secondary schools in Mfoundi division. RH4: - School Sanctions have an influence on the level of students’ delinquency in some secondary schools in Mfoundi division. To test these hypotheses, the following methodology was used. It is a mixed study with cross sectional survey and exploratory case study designs. Questionnaires and Semi –structured interviews were used as instruments for data collection. Choice and reality theory, Moral development theory, the Strain theory and Ecological system theories constitute the theoretical foundations of this study. 305 students and teachers based on stratified random sampling were selected to answer the questionnaires while 4 administrators were selected for interviews through purposive sampling techniques. The Spearman ranked correlation was used to test hypothesis, frequency tables and content analysis techniques were used to analyze quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The following results were obtained: RH1 was statistically confirmed at r= 0.597, p=0.000≤ 0.05 indicating a positive correlation between school rules and regulations and students’ delinquency RH2 was statistically confirmed at r= 0.625, p = 0.000 ≤ 0.05, signifying a strong correlation between school preventive measures and students’ delinquency RH3 was statistically unconfirmed at r = 0.097, p = 0.000 ≤ 0.05, signifying a weak correlation between school monitoring and students’ delinquency RH4 was statistically confirmed at r = 0.631, p = 0.000 ≤ 0.05 showing a strong correlation between school sanctions and students’ delinquency. From these results, we conclude that, discipline management strategies influence students’ delinquency at Mfoundi division. Thus, the delinquency gap observed on students in Mfoundi division is 75% statistically linked to discipline management strategies. In view of the above, some suggestions have been made to educational promoters, school administrators, students and parents which can help minimize the level of students’ delinquency in Mfoundi division in particular and Cameroon in General. Key Words: Discipline, Management Strategies, Students, Delinquency, Management.

Keywords

• discipline
• management strategies
• students
• delinquency
• management