The Nature of Conflicts and Discipline Issues Encountered in Public Secondary Schools in Kakamega County, Kenya Introduction Conflicts in secondary schools between students and the school administration and even between students themselves leading undesirable students' unrest are not unique and a preserve for Kenya as a county. At the global level, there have been very many cases of student unrest, an issue which has raised great concern at the social, racial, geographical and political

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... . For many years, teaching methods have carried the blame, with some scholars arguing that this is the main reason for increased students' indiscipline. Whereas the parents suffer anxiety and frustrations, the increased rates of violence and restlessness facts the students' social and academic journey. The administration is also affected as the chaos demand reconstruction of buildings and transfer of staff. In some cases, both students and staff have become victims of the violent actions, with some being injured and some losing their lives. The economic damage that takes place is also magnificent (Alizadeh, 2011) . The Western countries have not been left behind as far as the indiscipline of students is concerned. The media has covered many instances of students' unrest, with different teachers 'organizations complaining that their children are not stable at school. As a result, researchers have invested in extensive studies to analyse the reality of the matter, focusing on the extent of the unrest in high schools (Esen, 1998). For the years 2004, 1996 and 1990, of the Scottish Executive Education Department, which is an independent group conducted studies in secondary schools, with an aim of examining the nature school unrests, and how they change over time. The questions remained the same, and the data was collected in the same schools with teachers as the respondents in all the studies. The results of the study indicated that the unrests have remained a major concern in secondary schools. The measures put in place had not managed to help in reduction of the chaos (Munn, Johnstone and Sharp, 2004) . Guidance and counselling programmes were introduced in secondary schools in Kenya on the grounds that it would shape the general character, traits, attitude and discipline of the learners (Wango, 2006). It would, also, enhance the academic, social and personal development of the students. The programme for guidance and counselling was also cited as aimed at aiding the students to make achievable career choices and decisions. However, the realization of the expected purpose of these programmes is still in doubt given the existence of indiscipline cases in public secondary schools in Kakamega County. Guidance and counselling programmes in secondary schools have either been misrepresented, given divided attention than it deserves, handled by incompetent personnel, inadequacy of resources to execute the programmes, or the programmes have been shelved hence not in practice (Wango, 2006). Most schools in