International Journal of Education and Social Science (IJESS)

This paper reports students, teachers, deputy principals and District Quality Assurance and Standards Officer’s (DQASOs) views on the extent to which stealing is a problem behavior among students in public secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia West sub-county. The study assesses stealing as a problem behavior among students in public secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia West sub-county using descriptive survey research design. The target population for the study consisted of 5,796 students, 267 teachers, 1 DQASO and 12 Deputy Principals in the 12 (seven boys’ and five girls’ public boarding secondary schools) single sex public boarding secondary schools in the sub-county. A sample size of 497 consisting of 361 students, 119 secondary school teachers, 1 DQASO and 7 Deputy Principals was used. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedule. The findings showed that stealing was a prevalent behavior problem among students in in Trans-Nzoia West sub-county as several cases of stealing had been handled by teachers in schools depriving students’ quality time for teaching-learning activities. Further, the findings revealed that the most culpable class of students likely to engage in stealing in boys’ public boarding secondary schools were Form II’s while in girls it was the Form III’s. Based on the findings it is suggested that the Kenyan Government through the Kenya institute of Curriculum Development to ensure that the value of integrity is mainstreamed in the basic education curriculum in all the subjects so as to address stealing and other vices in Trans-Nzoia West sub-county.