Abstract:
Given the rising cost of secondary education, leading to allocation of large
amount of resources to secondary education, students’ academic performance is
expected to be better. This study analyzed the influence of Unit Cost on learners’
academic performance in Day and Boarding secondary school in Nandi County, Kenya.
The study was guided by Cost Function derived from the Education Production
Function theory; it employed a survey as a research strategy. The study targeted all the
principals in 186 public secondary schools in the Nandi County. It employed stratified
random sampling and then systematic random sampling. Questionnaire and document
analysis were for data collection. A pilot study was used to determine the reliability of
the instruments. For validity of the research tool, experienced team of supervisors
carefully and critically examined the instruments. Data was analyzed using means,
percentages and linear regression analysis. It was found out that, average unit cost Ksh.
22,263 and Ksh. 54,828 for Day and Boarding secondary schools respectively.
Furthermore, the findings revealed that, academic performance for the period (2012-
2015), recorded an average mean of 7.1184 and 4.7391 for Boarding and Day
secondary schools respectively. From the study, there was a positive significant
(p=0.000) relationship between academic performance and unit cost in Boarding
schools t(28) = 4.192, p<0.05. Similarly, there was a positive significant (p=0.014)
relationship between academic performance and unit cost in Day schools, t(91) = 2.503,
p<0.05. The recommendations are; there is need to priorities expenditure for acquisition
of teaching and learning resources and thus enhance learner achievements. The
Ministry of Education to explore cost effective measures to reduce unit cost of
secondary education so as to improve access and performance. The findings generate
ideas for better and more resourceful cost management in secondary schools, which is
useful for policy makers and managers in education sector.
