Abstract:
Governments around the world agree that the ability to provide quality education for all and to respond to new priorities depends on the availability of adequate funding in education (OECD, 2016). Financing of education is the greatest enabler of learners to participate in education and flow through education system from entry to exit. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of financing by non-state agencies on participation rates in public secondary schools in Makueni County, Kenya. This study adopted a descriptive survey design where the targeted respondents included School Principals and their Deputies from 196 secondary schools in Makueni County as well as 9 Sub County Directors of Education from Makueni County. Data collection instruments included questionnaires for Principals, Deputy Principals and interview schedule for Sub-county Directors of Education. The instruments were piloted and tested for content validity and reliability. The response rate from the data collection exercise was 91.8%. The data was analyzed by use of SPSS version 22. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations and inferential statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically through content analysis and the responses were presented in narratives. Tables and figures were used to present the analyzed data. The results revealed that there was statistically significant relationship between education financing by non-state agencies and participation rates in public secondary schools in Makueni County. The adjusted R square of 0.630 indicated that 63% of the variation in the participation of students in schooling in public secondary schools in Makueni County could be explained by provision of funding by non-state agencies in financing education. From this result, the study concludes that financing by non-state agencies does influence students’ participation rates in public secondary schools in Makueni County, Kenya. The qualitative results also confirmed that education subsidies influence students’ participation rates in public secondary schools in Makueni County, Kenya. The study recommends that government should increase funding to schools and also enhance the partnership with other stakeholders in financing education to enhance students’ participation rates in education.
