Alternative Strategies of Funding Secondary School Education in Kenya: A Case Study of Emuhaya District

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate measures that secondary schools undertook to supplement financing of education. The study intended to establish the financial needs for secondary schools to run academic programs, determine financial sources of acquiring teaching and learning resources and examining the initiatives secondary schools undertook to finance education and how funds from the initiatives were spent. The study was done in Emuhaya district in western province. An ex post facto research design was used in the study. From a total population of 25 public secondary schools, stratified random sampling was used to select 22 schools from two strata-Provincial and District. Questionnaires were administered to head teachers, class teachers and school bursars while interviews were conducted on headteachers. Pilot study was carried out in one school. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Descriptive statistics involving use of frequency Tables, percentages and means were used to analyze data while Wilcoxon sign rank was employed to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that institutions faced problems of funds, low fee payment, lack of community support, delays in deliveries and late remission of bursary funds. The financial sources of acquiring teaching and learning resources were identified to be the government (in form of teachers’ salaries), school fees. tea improvising, Schoolteachers Association and Ministry of Education supplies. The study revealed that bigger proportions of fundraising initiatives schools undertook came from the Parent/Teachers associations, fundraising, donations, and bursaries while meager finances came from hiring of school conference halls, poultry keeping activities, community labour, rent and sponsors. The study recommended the need for secondary schools to innovate new strategies of generating income. Bursaries, GDP and LATE funds needed to be disbursed on time to schools. There was a need to in-service school administrators on ways of utilizing local resources to finance school programs.