Abstract:
The study sought to determine the influence of parents’ ability to pay user charges in public day secondary schools in Makueni County, Kenya. The study was guided by human capital theory which was developed by Schultz in 1961. The study employed concurrent research design of mixed methods methodology. Target population was 250 principals, 380 Form 4 class teachers, 250 PA chair persons and 108 area chiefs. The sample size included 50 principals, 76 class teachers, 50 PA chairpersons and 20 chiefs, making a total of 196 research participants. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 and presented using frequency tables and graphs while qualitative data was analyzed thematically and presented using narratives and appropriate verbatim quotes. Descriptive statistics used were mainly mean and standard deviation while inferential statistics used were both correlation and regression analyses. Pearsons’s correlation coefficient was used to determine association /correlation between parents’ ability to pay user charges and students’ participation in public day secondary schools in Makueni County. Bivariate regression analysis was used to show the influence of parents’ ability to pay user charges on students’ participation in public day secondary schools in Makueni County. The study established that parents’ ability to pay user charges positively and significantly influenced students’ participation in public day secondary schools in Makueni County. The study recommended that; government should increase the amount of FDSE allocations channeled to schools to cover user charges imposed, boost scholarships and bursary schemes and also implement feeding programme for the day scholars.
