Effects of rising costs on provision of quality services in secondary schools: a case of Ainamoi, Kericho County, Kenya X

Abstract

The rising costs regarding education are mainly the reason behind the rising tuition and fees, in such cases budgeting becomes imperative to operations. The study sought to find out the effects of rising costs on provision of quality services in public secondary schools in Ainamoi Sub-county, Kericho County. The objectives of the study were: to assess the effects of nature of budgets used on provision of quality services, to evaluate the strategies used by secondary schools in provision of quality services, to assess the effects of rising costs on provision of quality services and to find out the challenges public secondary schools experience in provision of quality services in Ainamoi Sub- County, Kenya. The study was anchored in agency theory and system theory. The study used descriptive survey research design, allowing the researcher to describe the situation in secondary schools. The target population included the Members of Board of management, Principals, Bursar and heads of department from 27 public secondary schools. To achieve the sample size, the researcher conducted stratified sampling, narrowing down the study to 14 schools. Purposive sampling was used to pick a sample population of 98. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect the data where both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Quantitative data was analyzed using coefficient of determination and ANOVA and presented using tables, graphs and charts while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The findings indicated that more schools use cash flow budgets, income generating activities are used to finance deficit and teachers are demotivated due to inadequate teaching and learning materials. The study sought to establish the regression model significance, ANOVA for Boards of management and heads of department posted significant-value of 0.000 b which was significant, hence, are significant in budgeting and provision of quality education. The Bursars‟ significance value of 0.706 b which is greater than 0.05 hence weren‟t significant. The study concluded that rising costs negatively affect the provision of quality services since it creates deficits as schools run short of essential supplies. The study recommended that income generating activities should be encouraged and government funding be reviewed yearly in line with economic prevails. The study also recommended that the site (school) based budgeting and cash flow budget be used in schools, budgetary controls be put in place, all stakeholders be involved in budgetary process and that the government to revise school fees on yearly basis based on the prevailing economic situations.