Abstract:
School management is the exercise of power and authority to achieve set educational goals. In
secondary schools, the students play a crucial role through the student leaders in complementing
the school administration to enhance effective management. However following persistent student
unrest in secondary schools in Kenya the Ministry of Education (MOE) reformed the student
leadership from prefects who are appointed by teachers to student councils that are democratically
elected by students. The study was conducted in Nyeri County of Kenya. It adopted a casualcomparative research design. The study was conducted in 24 boys and girls public boarding
secondary schools that were identified using purposive sampling. The target population was 10,387
subjects that comprised of members of the student council, teachers, students and deputy principals.
Using a purposive sampling technique 192 members of the student council was sampled to
participate in the study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 144 Form Three
students in public boarding secondary schools to participate in the study. Using a purposive
sampling technique 24 Form Three class teacher and 24 deputy principals were sampled to
participate in the study. To ascertain reliability the instruments were pilot tested in two non coeducational public boarding secondary schools in Kirinyaga County. The reliability coefficient was
estimated using Cronbach coefficient alpha. A coefficient value of 0.865 and was obtained from all
research instruments. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21
for Windows. Hypotheses were tested using t-test and multiple regression (r
2
) statistics at α =
0.05significance level. The study established that the student councils enhance effective
management of non co-educational secondary schools in coordinating student activities
