STUDENT COUNCILS PARTICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KERICHO WEST SUB COUNTY, KENYA

This study investigated the student councils participation in decision making in public secondary schools in Kenya. The study was prompted by student unrests in secondary schools often blamed to unequal decision making opportunities in schools. Data was collected by means of a survey questionnaires distributed among 180 student leaders and 84 teachers and an interview schedule distributed among 12 secondary school deputy head teachers in Kericho West sub county, Kenya. The findings revealed that inclusion of student councils views in secondary schools were mainly tokenistic and did not extend to core management issues. Students’ councils were mostly allowed to participate in student welfare issues. It was concluded that student councils participation in secondary schools need to be expanded to include administrative issues. The recommendation of the study is that there is need for school management to implement significant student involvement in their schools.