Influence of educational subsidies on completion rates in public day secondary schools in Kitui County, Kenya

Abstract

Completion rates in public day secondary schools in Kitui County is low and stands at 72.8 per cent which is way below the government expectation of 98 per cent. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Educational Subsidies on completion rates in public day secondary schools in Kitui County. The objectives of this study were, to assess the influence of Free Day Secondary Education on completion rates in public day secondary schools in Kitui County, Kenya, to determine the extent to which government bursaries influence completion rates in public day secondary schools in Kitui County, to establish the extent to which provision of teaching and learning materials influences completion rates in public day secondary schools in Kitui County and to examine the extent to which educational subsidies influence completion rates among different student gender in public day secondary schools in Kitui County. This study was anchored on the Classical Liberal Theory of Equal Opportunity by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The sample size for the study consisted of 119 principals of day secondary schools in Kitui County, 16 treasurers of Constituency Bursary Fund committee and one County Director of Education, giving a total of 136 respondents. Stratified proportionate sampling technique was used to select the schools from every sub-county using Yamane’s Formula. Simple random sampling was used to select principals and purposive sampling was used to select Constituency Bursary Fund committee treasurers and County Director of Education. Data was collected using a questionnaire for the principals, interview schedules for Constituency Bursary Fund committee treasurers and County Director of Education. Document review guide was used to gather data on enrolment and completion rates of students from school class and admission registers and Kenya Certificate Secondary Education registration records. The study revealed that Free Day Secondary Education influence on completion rates is very significant by 0.127 level of significant implying that the provision of Free Day Secondary Education has helped students to complete their studies. However, funds were inadequate to keep a student in school for a whole year. The study also found that the constituency bursary fund committee treasurers had no records to track the impact of the bursaries disbursed. The study further found that teaching and learning materials were inadequate. The study recommended that the government should increase funding for Free Day Secondary Education in public day secondary schools. The study also recommended that public day secondary schools Board of Management should mobilize other sources of teaching and learning materials. The study further recommended that Constituency Bursary Fund Committees should improve on record keeping and tracking to ensure impact of bursary on completion rates is documented. The study concludes that provision of Free Day Secondary Education has increased students’ retention rate and reduced dropout rates subsequently this has led to high completion rates. The study further concludes that Constituency Development Fund bursary has not been effective in ensuring retention of students in public day secondary schools.