The Effects of Violence on Students’ Discipline in Secondary Schools in the South West Region of Cameroon

Abstract

This work studied the effects of violence on students’ discipline in secondary schools in the South West region of Cameroon. The study was a mixed methods survey research design, the quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in collecting the data needed for the study. The reason for utilizing the mix method approach was to enable the researcher to exploit participants’ opinions/views on the variable under investigation in greater detail and to complement the weaknesses of using exclusively, the quantitative approach. The sample constituted 349 personnel and 417 students. The respondents were sampled through purposive sampling, convenient sampling and proportionate sampling techniques. A questionnaire and an interview guide are the instrument used for data collection. The questionnaire data were analysed using frequency, percentages, Spearman’s rho test and Chi-square test while the qualitative data were analysed thematically. The questionnaire/quantitative data were analysed with the aid of SPSS 23.0. The findings showed that 55.3% of the students used violence on class/school mates, and even on teachers. Statistically, the findings showed that there is a significant relationship between violence and students discipline (P =0.000< 0.05) and this relationship was supported with a high explanatory power of 86.3% with violence found having a negative implication on students discipline (R= -0.333^**). Therefore, it recommended that strategies should be adopted by school administrations and policy implemented to curb indiscipline in secondary schools in Cameroon.