This study was carried out to investigate challenges encountered by principals in enforcing students discipline among secondary schools in Edo North Senatorial District. Five (5) research questions were raised while three (3) hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive method based on survey research design was adopted. A population of 286 principals of public and private secondary schools in Edo North Senatorial District was used while 172 principals constituted the sample size using a simple random sampling technique. The sample comprised 60% of the entire population. The questionnaire was used to gather relevant data and was titled: Challenges of Principals in Enforcement of Students’ Discipline Questionnaire (CPESDQ). The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. It was found among others that principals in secondary schools in Edo North Senatorial District encountered 10 different challenges in the enforcement of students’ discipline. Some of these challenges included school owners’ interference and students’ fear of assault which were ranked highest, while restriction by law was ranked least in secondary schools in Edo North Senatorial District. Further, principals of public secondary schools encountered more challenges in the enforcement of students’ discipline than their counterparts in private secondary schools in Edo North Senatorial District. It was recommended based on the findings that principals of secondary schools should develop coping strategies in solving challenges encountered in enforcing students’ discipline. The strategies were Reality Therapy (RT) and Discipline with Dignity (DD).
Keywords: Challenges, Discipline with Dignity, Enforcing, Principals, Reality Therapy, Students’ Discipline
