Assessment of allocation of constituency bursary funds in secondary schools in Kenya, a case of Bumula Constituency, Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

econdary school education is very critical in any education system because of the crucial role it plays in catalyzing national development. Consequently, maintaining a high student enrolment at this level should be a priority for all countries. The Constituency Bursary Fund (CBF) was established by the government of Kenya through an act of parliament in 2003 to ensure that the needy students have access to secondary education. This fund provides for the involvement of community members in identifying the bursary recipients. With the communal involvement in decision-making, it was anticipated that there would be fairness and efficiency in the bursary allocation process. Contrary to the high expectations however, cases of complaints about the implementation of the constituency bursary fund are many. The purpose of the study was to determine adherence to the established criteria in allocating bursaries influences retention in secondary school. This study was guided by the following objectives namely: To examine the criteria used by the constituency bursary fund committee to allocate bursaries to the recipients in the constituency; To determine the level of inequality in the allocation of bursaries to recipients in the constituency.; To establish how constituency bursary fund influenced students’ retention in secondary school, To find out the problems encountered by the bursary allocation committee when allocating bursaries to the recipients. This study adopted descriptive survey design using mixed approach methodology. This study was guided by the theory of socialist economics of education. The target population for this study comprised of the 1 DEO, 30 schoolprincipals, 120 class teachers, 14 CBF committee members and 1500 form three students. The study adopted both probability and non-probability samplings design to determine sample size. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaire and qualitative data through interview and document analysis. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. (Pearson Correlation Coefficient) Qualitative data was thematically classified and arranged before they were reported in narrations and quotations. Constituency Bursary Committee officials indicated that the total amount of bursary is distributed equally between the 19 wards in the constituency. There is a significant relationship between Adequacy of CBF and Retention in Secondary Schools. Among the challenges faced in the provision of CDF bursaries is the high geographical mobility of urban dwellers which lead to lack of detailed information about them