This academic piece if writing will discuss in detail on discipline and its importance in

schools. Furthermore, the essay will also outline practical strategies of how a teacher in
school management can maintain discipline. The critical tool used in the transformation of
individual in particular and the society in general. Secondary education in schools is meant at
preparing the learners for valuable living conditions within the society and training for further
education. In order to live a valuable life within any given community and contribute towards
the social, economic, and political development of the nation, the appropriate skills, values,
attitudes, knowledge, and competencies must be impacted into the individual. Stakeholders
have experienced magnificent increase in students’ indiscipline in secondary schools. In
developing nations, indiscipline has been a major and continuous administrative problem
among secondary schools in developing countries.

Denga (1999) in his study identified indiscipline problems such as stealing, truancy, sexual
offence, vandalism and cheating as destructive practices. The percentage of students who
drop out of school in most urban and rural areas. These students cultivate and demonstrate
deviant behaviours and may never fulfil their potentials. They become burdens to the society.
There is an outcry of tutors or educators, administrators and parents about the increasing rate
of indiscipline mostly in secondary schools. This observation unsettles the mind of patriotic
schools since children are considered the future leaders of the country. As a result, any
attempt to curb students’ indiscipline in school would be highly welcomed by the
government, educators, parents, teachers and school administrators.

Different authors have defined discipline in various terms. Adesina (1980:108), says that
discipline is to teach the students manners on how show respect to school authorities, to
observe the school laws and regulations and to maintain an established standard of behaviour.
From this definition the school has a primordial role to play in instilling discipline into their
students. Therefore, school administrators and teachers should enforce acceptable behaviour
in their students. Egwunyenga (1994) defined discipline as the training that enables an
individual to develop an orderly conduct and self-control as well as direction. Peretomode
(1995) maintains that discipline involves the ability to have self-control, restraint, respect for
self and respect for others.

Discipline according to Abubakar (2000) is the ability and willingness to do what one ought
to do without external control. Hence one can say discipline is internally motivated within the
individual and depends on the state of mind of an individual. It is voluntary and an individual
deliberately makes efforts to conform to an established code of conduct. However, Aguba
(2009) while emphasizing Douglas McGregor’s theory x, maintained that discipline is
externally induced in individuals who do not succumb to established rules and regulations out
of personal volition but out of fear of punishment or sanction. Rosen (1997) sees discipline as
a branch of knowledge, training that develops self-control, character, orderliness or
efficiency, strict control to enforce obedience and treatment that controls or punishes and as a
system of rules. According to Slee (1995), discipline involves teaching and self-control. The
United States department of Education 1993:1 in Rosen (1997) acknowledges that
maintaining a disciplined environment conducive for learning requires an ethics of caring that
shapes staff student’s relations.

The public presumes that schools are the preferred environment to transform productive and
useful citizens of any nations. The retains that decent discipline is one of the key attributes of
effective schools and most school which experienced frequent deviant students’ behaviour
have been blamed on lack of effective implementation of school rules and regulations for
discipline to reign in school. One can say that discipline comes through effective
management of an organisation. Indiscipline on the other hand is any act that diverges from
the acceptable societal norms and values. It is a violation of school rules and regulations
which is capable of obstructing the smooth and orderly functioning of the school system
(Edem, 1982).

An undisciplined child is an uncontrollable child and can do any damage in school when he
does not get what he wants. Principals as administrative head or chief executive of the
institution who plan, control, command, organise and coordinate all the activities that take
place in the school and the principal is the president or ex officio of the disciplinary council;
to try students whose conduct is not satisfactory. In this connection, principals have records
of students’ indiscipline and are in better position to explain to other stakeholders, especially
parents on the conduct of their children. Thus every school administrator requires a good
measure of discipline in his school. Students’ indiscipline is instigating a menace in all parts
of the world in relation to children's affairs.

According to Danso (2010) In some parts of the United Kingdom, the rates of absenteeism,
vandalism and delinquency are above average. Cases of high incidence of drug and drug
related crimes in some parts of Britain are described as ‘no-go areas’. In Chicago, New York,
Washington and Detroit pupil’s violence in high truancy schools is rife; for example, school-
based robberies, vandalism, extortion and insolence to staff. However, decried the high rates
of indiscipline and lawlessness in educational institutions. The observation was that not a
single day passes without a report of an act of indiscipline perpetrated by teenagers of
primary and secondary schools. He lamented over the causes of drug abuse, rape, armed
robbery, abortion and even murder in the educational institutions. Meaningful teaching and
learning geared towards the attainment of school goals is unattainable if the teachers and
students are not disciplined.

Aguba (2009) noted that discipline is needed to produce a breed of well cultivated youths
who will develop not only respect for themselves but also for others in the school and society.
It has been realised that students’ indiscipline in secondary schools in Cameroon has become
a cankerworm that has eaten too deep into the students’ moral up bring. Students have
become uncontrollable and highly disrespectful to: themselves, teachers, school
administrators, parents and to the society at large. Students portray different types of
indiscipline behaviour among which include the following acts: boycotting of lessons,
watching and practicing pornography, lies telling, violence, dishonesty, disobedient to
teachers, prefects, and school administration, rapping school/class mates, alcohol
consumption, confronting and stabbing teachers in schools, vandalism, lateness to school,
cultism, drug abuse, insulting/assaulting, stealing, rioting; among others. the extent to which
students’ indiscipline behaviours in school are correlated with are not known whether these
influences emanate from the perspectives of their peer group, their parents’ socioeconomic
achievements, parent’s attitude, teacher’ attitude, school culture, climate and environment;
and the magnitude of disorder it triggers in school and what strategies should be put in place
to curb this deviant behaviour.

Abdulhamid (2007) stated that the dynamic explosion of the mass media system through
television, magazines and computer have contributed to the inculcation of deviant practices
among most students in schools. who noted that some programmes which pupils watch on
television promotes violence and pornography. The possible solutions to indiscipline revealed
provision of moral leadership and moral training, value re-orientation, provision of adequate
facilities for teaching games and sports, establishment of effective and functional Parent-
Teacher Association (PTA), reduction in class size, schools emphasizing extracurricular
activities, involving students in making rules policies that affect them, positive teacher-
students relationships, provision of ICTs and internet connectivity, high parental and school
supervision and counselling and enforceable school rules and regulations.
According to Abubakar (2000), School administrators should devise means of involving
students in formulating rules and policies that affect them. Involvement of students in
evaluation and improvement of instruction programme, involvement in the planning and
implementation of co-curricular programmes, involvement in the control of students’
behaviour and in deciding the consequences of flaunting the school rules will help to curb
indiscipline among students. Positive teacher-student’s relationship is attainable when
teachers take cognizance of the child socially, psychologically and physically. Teachers must
appreciate, understand and accept today’s students. As a result, the social distance between
the students and teachers should be reduced. In addition, with the provision of ICTs and
internet connectivity in schools, students will spend most of their extra time searching for
information and expanding knowledge rather than loitering about during such free periods.
The results for the hypotheses revealed that there was no significant difference among the
respondents in their views on the identified causes of indiscipline and possible solutions to
indiscipline in secondary schools.

In conclusion, it is imperative to ensure that the good behaviour and conditions are
inculcated, established and maintained for effective learning in schools to avoid deviant
behaviour. The government, policy makers, education reformers and school administrators
should ensure that schools are provided with adequate facilities for teaching and learning,
sports and games as well as information communication technologies and internet
connectivity.
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Abubakar, S. (2000). Rights and Obligations. In N. Adesina (ed.) Citizenship Education

in Nigeria. Lagos: Idowu Publishers.

Adesina,S. (1980). Aspects of school management. Ibadan: Board Publication

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Agbenyega,S. (2006). Corporal punishment in the schools of Ghana: Does inclusive

education suffers? The Australian Education Research. Aguba.R.

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