Indiscipline among Secondary School Students in Akwaga Local Government Area Nasarawa State

Abstract This study investigated the influence of indiscipline on the management of secondary schools in Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The research was necessitated by persistent reports of rising student indiscipline including truancy, bullying, classroom disruption, examination malpractice, and destruction of school property, which threaten effective school administration in the area. The study was guided by two specific purposes: to examine the influence of indiscipline on funding of secondary schools, and to determine the influence of indiscipline on decision making in secondary schools. Two research questions were raised and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population comprised 119 respondents consisting of principals, vice principals, and teachers from secondary schools in Akwanga Local Government Area. A total enumeration technique was employed, utilizing the entire population as the sample size due to its manageable size. A 10-item structured rating scale titled "Indiscipline and Management of Schools Rating Scale (IMSRS)" was developed by the researcher, validated by experts, and tested for reliability. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while chi-square test of goodness of fit was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 confidence level. The findings revealed that indiscipline has a significant influence on both funding and decision making in secondary schools. Specifically, the results showed that strained education budgets leave little room for unplanned expenditures, schools experiencing high levels of indiscipline routinely incur extra expenses for disciplinary hearings, and school leaders divert capital budgets toward immediate behavioural management needs. Regarding decision making, the study found that high levels of Indisciplinecause breakdowns in communic- -ation, underminepolicy implementation, contribute to decision fatigue among administrators, distort the decision-making environment by creating unpredictability, and undermine strategic thinking. The chi-square analysis confirmed significant influences for both variables (χ² = 75.43, df = 3, p < 0.05 for funding; χ² = 120.38, df = 3, p < 0.05 for decision making). The study concluded that indiscipline significantly influences the management of secondary schools in Akwanga Local Government Area by diverting financial resources from instructional purposes and compromising the quality of administrative decisions. It was recommended among others that school managers should allocate contingency funds specifically for managing disciplinary issues, and that principals should establish functional school disciplinary committees involving teachers, parents, and community leaders to ensure consistent decision-making and reduce the administrative burden caused by recurring indiscipline cases.