Abstract:
The provision of quality education in Kenyan has been a central policy issue since we attained
independence. This has been due to governments’ commitment to provision of quality education and
training as a basic human right for all Kenyans in accordance with the new constitution and the
international conventions. Secondary education policies have evolved over time with the Government
addressing challenges facing education sector through several commissions, committees and task forces.
Immediately after independence, the first commission chaired by Ominde, in 1964 sought to reform the
education system inherited from the colonial government to make it more responsive to the needs of the
country. The Report of The presidential Working Party on the Second University chaired by Mackey,
led to the replacement of A- Level secondary education with the current 8-4-4 education system (GOK,
1964; 1981 & 2005 and IPAR, 2008).
In the recent past, Kenya’s education sector has undergone accelerated reforms in order to
address the overall goals of economic recovery strategy for Employment and wealth creation 2003-
2007 (ERS) as well as meeting the international development commitments, including the millennium
development Goals (MDGs) and Education for ALL (EFA). The major reforms include: launch and
implementation of the Free Primary Education (FPE) in January 2003, development of the Sessional
paper No. 1 of 2005 on policy framework, which advocate that the government is already implementing
measures on how to improve access and retention in secondary education and introduction of Free Day
Secondary Education in January 2008. In addition to these reforms, the government has also been
implanting several strategies to ensure that disadvantaged children have equal opportunity in accessing
education at all levels. One such reform is secondary school bursary scheme.
