Effects Of Bursary Scheme In The Retention And Completion Rates Of Public Secondary School Students In Kamariny Division In Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study is to establish the effects of the bursary scheme in the retention and completion rates of Public Secondary School students in Kamariny Division, Elgeyo Marakwet County in Kenya. The study aims at establishing the criteria used to award bursaries to needy students and its effects on retention, establish the adequacy of the bursary funds distributed, the timing of the release of funds, its influence on drop-out and ways of strengthening the communication on Secondary Education bursary funds. The research will review related literature on the bursary scheme and will be based on the Human Capital Theory advocated by Schultz (1960). The study will adopt a descriptive survey design and target 19 head teachers, 3129 Public Secondary School students and 15 Constituency Bursary Committee members in Elgeyo Marakwet County. Purposive sampling will be used to get the number of students who had applied for bursary from the 18 Public Secondary Schools and 2 Constituency Bursary Committee Officials. The study will involve administering a set of questionnaires to principals and to students and use an interview schedule for the Constituency Bursary Committee officials. Document analysis will be conducted on records of students who had applied for bursaries and those who benefited for the period 2006-2010. Validity of the instrument will be enhanced through piloting and review by experts while reliability will be ensured using the test re-tests method. The data collected from the field will be coded and entered into computer for analysis using the statistical package for socio-sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistic analysis will be employed; including frequencies, means and percentages. The results of data analysis will be presented in frequency tables, histograms and pie charts. The study seeks to establish the major factors considered in allocating bursaries and students’ source of information about constituency bursary funds. The adequacy and timeliness of the amount of bursary funds awarded to needy students will be evaluated. Constituency Bursary Committee Officials will also provide details on sub-division of the total amount of bursary among the constituencies in the county. Based on the findings, the study will aim at recommending that there should be adequate sensitization on the existence of the bursary funds. Fairness and timely allocation of funds to genuinely needy students and all bursaries available to Secondary Schools should be harmonized to avoid duplication of resources and the bursary scheme to meet its objectives.