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The Kenyan society is experiencing a lot of conflicts, some with devastating effects such as deaths, starvation, disease and destruction. These normally arise out of difference between people. Secondary schools being part of the society have not been left out of this challenge as evidenced by mass media reports on strikes, demonstrations and resulting closures. This being the formative age of the youth who are the majority of the Kenyan population according to 2009 census results, the opportunity of their being in school may be exploited by the society to address conflicts as a major challenge to peace today. The Ministry of Education can impart a curriculum that would perpetuate peaceful conflict management skills in the youth. So far, this has evidently not been done adequately creating gaps for mishaps such as the 2008 post-election violence, whereby if the international community had not timely sent the former United Nations Organization Secretary General, Koffi Annan of Ghana who mediated to resolve the conflict, Kenyans would have ended up in self- destruction. Police have been called in by various authorities, severally, to quell riots and disperse demonstrators across the country. Many people have been, sentenced to death, life in prison, jailed or fined by Kenyan courts due to their poor conflict resolution methods. A peaceful environment would facilitate achievement of "millennium development goals" at the international level, and the vision of industrialization by 2030 in Kenya. It is against the backdrop of the importance of conflict management skills to Kenyans that this paper is addressed. (Contains 1 table.)

Despite Kenya Government's commitment to enhancement of girl-child education, their participation rate at secondary school level is still notably low. Many studies on the girl-child education have concentrated in the rural populations with the assumption that the situation in the urban setting is nearly ideal. This was not the case as was evidenced in the period 2004-2007 whereby, mixed day secondary schools in Kisumu Municipality were averagely made up of only 43% girls. Headteachers as implementers of government policies are well placed to enhance girl child participation in mixed day secondary schools. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the opportunities, challenges and coping strategies for headteachers in the promotion of secondary school girl-child education. The findings of the study were that headteachers had several opportunities such as financial resources, government policies, political goodwill, personnel and facilities to promote girl-child participation in secondary education. Headteachers faced challenges including indiscipline, inadequate facilities and personnel, poverty and girl-child drop-out. Strategies to cope with the challenges were government policies, parental involvement and availing resources and personnel for the girl-child education. Based on the findings, the study recommended that the government should formulate appropriate educational policies whose implementation would be monitored and evaluated to improve Girl child education. Besides, the headteacher should facilitate the affordability of girl-child education in mixed day secondary schools. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)