Joshua G. Manduku – Department of Educational Administration, Planning and Management

Florence K. Kamonjo – Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Media

University of Kabianga

Email: langatcharles17@gmail.com

Abstract: Student indiscipline cases have been on the rise in the recent past in public schools worldwide. This led students’ councils being put in place to mitigate on students unrests in schools. However, schools still experienced cases of learner’s unrests among cases of indiscipline. This study aimed to examine the influence of the election process on the effectiveness of student councils in managing student discipline in public secondary schools in Bomet County, Kenya. The Distributed Leadership Theory (DLT) provided the theoretical lens for this study which emphasized shared leadership between different levels of organizational leadership. The study employed correlational research design, targeted 166 public secondary schools. The sample size was 579 respondents while census, stratified, simple random and purposive sampling techniques were adopted.Research instruments were questionnaires and interviews. Validity was tested using experts’ opinion, and Cronbach alpha used to test reliability. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically and all ethical considerations upheld. The result was that students’ council election process has a positive and significant statistical relationship with management of student discipline of (β= .990, p < 0.05). The study concluded that students’ council election process has a significant influence on the effectiveness of student councils in managing student discipline in Public Secondary Schools. The Ministry of Education should come of up with guidelines on how the student’s council election process can be made better to improve their effectiveness in managing students’ discipline.