Discusión de resultados

This section highlights some of the challenges facing the school administration and teachers in their effort to curb drug abuse in schools. All the teachers (18) and deputy-head teachers (4) as respondents singled out a number of challenges facing the war against drug abuse in schools as presented in this section. The teachers were allowed to respond to more than one of the various alternatives given. The multiple-choice responses of the 18 teachers are presented in Table 5.33

Table 5.33 Challenges faced in addressing drug abuse according to teachers

Responses

Problems encountered in dealing with drug abuse

Yes No No response

Count (%) Count (%) count (%) Parents do not support school

Administration

9 50 7 38.9 2 11.1

Some teachers provide drugs to students

1 5.6 15 83.3 2 11.1

Some teachers take drugs 4 22.2 12 66.7 2 11.1

Teachers do not discourage drug taking

1 5.6 15 83.3 2 11.1

Lack of adequate knowledge to address drug issues

13 72.2 3 16.7 2 11.1

Time schedules are not flexible

3 16.7 13 72.2 2 11.1

Responses captured in Table 5.33 indicate that teachers‟ perception of the biggest challenge faced in addressing drug abuse is lack of adequate knowledge on how to deal with it (72.2%). This

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indicates that teachers feel inadequate when asked to help drug abusers in their schools. This could be attributed to the fact that the majority of school counselors are not trained in approaches to addressing drug abuse in their schools.

Teachers furthermore indicated that they perceived the lack of support to school administration by parents, 9 (50%) as a challenge. The lack of teacher role models for students was also regarded as a challenge because some indicated that teachers take drugs, 4 (22%), and are therefore not good examples. Some teachers furthermore said that time schedules are not flexible, 3 (16.7%). It can be argued that inflexible time schedules could be linked to lack of adequate time for teachers who only counsel students during their free time. As a result, they perceived heavy workloads and the crowded curriculum to be a challenge.

Results which raise concern is the teacher (as indicated in Table 5.33), who responded that some teachers provide drugs to students, while another teacher response indicated that teachers do not discourage drug abuse amongst students.

When interviewed about the challenges faced by the schools, all the deputy-head teachers like the teachers cited a number of challenges. According to their perceptions, parents are not supportive while some are not good role models. They felt that the majority of parents stand by their children and defend them while blaming the teachers. As for the day schools, the biggest challenge was how to monitor the behaviour of the students since it is hard to follow them up after school. Their responses also indicated that most day schools are located near market centres which supply drugs to students.

Although deputy-head teachers are in charge of discipline at the schools, they noted the lack of clear guidelines on what punishment to administer or actions to take in relation to student drug abusers. The deputy-head teachers indicated that making such decisions is perceived as very taxing because the Children‟s Act of 2001 prohibits corporal punishment and child harassment. The perception of the deputy head- teachers was that the students take advantage of this loop hole and abuse drugs with impunity.

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In addition, the responses indicated that deputy-head teachers felt ill-equipped to identify drug abusers because they were not trained. All deputy-head teachers felt that it was hard to fathom the extent of drug abuse in schools because of the secrecy surrounding it. Since the extent of the problem cannot be established with certainty, the capacity of the school to deal with drug abuse becomes problematic. The media was also quoted as a stumbling block in the war against drug abuse in schools. According to the deputy-head teachers, alcohol and cigarettes are legally advertised which influences the youth to take the drugs. In addition, the warnings attached to these advertisements are too small to discourage many from indulging in these substances.

5.8 CONCLUSION

This chapter has discussed the data analysis and interpretation. In particular, the chapter looked at the extent of drug abuse among students, causes of drug abuse, commonly abused drugs and their sources; effects of drug abuse among students as perceived by the respondents; strategies used to address drug abuse and their perceived effectiveness; challenges facing schools in addressing drug abuse and suggested strategies to help curb drug abuse in secondary schools.

Quantitative data from respondents was analyzed using frequencies and percentages. Association between selected variables was evaluated with chi- square tests. Qualitative data was evaluated, classified into logical thematic categories based on the objectives, and coded. The analysis of the structured items was done by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Unstructured items were analyzed manually along major concepts and themes, and the results were presented using descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages).

Some of the key deductions are that:

Of the sampled students, 30% indicated that they abuse drugs and 56% indicated that their friends abuse drugs; but interviews with teachers indicated indecision regarding drug problems in their schools.

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The greatest ratio of drug abusers to non-abusers among the sampled schools, are aged between 20 and 22 years.

There is a significant relationship between drug abuse and age, use of drugs by family members and easy access to drugs.

Significant relationships between drug abuse and area of residence, peer pressure, and relationship with parents could not be established.

A variety of factors contribute to drug abuse with the majority of students citing curiosity, acceptance by peers and ignorance as to the dangers of drug abuse as the main reasons. Both the school administration and teachers face a number of challenges in the attempt to

curb drug abuse in schools.

A variety of methods are used to address drug abuse in schools, but the teachers were undecided on whether these measures were truly effective (Table 5.26).

Quite a number of findings in the current study agree with the findings of other research and were indicated in the chapter as doing so. However, possible explanation of other contrasting tendencies observed in the current study could only be speculated about.

The next Chapter is a presentation of the summary, conclusions and recommendations for a proposed programme for prevention and intervention of drug abuse problem in secondary schools in Kenya, based on the research findings in Chapter 5 of this study.

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CHAPTER SIX