Effects Of Subsidized Secondary Education On Access To Public Secondary Schools In Nyamache Division, Kisii County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The subsidized secondary education was introduced in 2008 as a result of Kenya’s effort to attain Education for All (EFA) by 2015 as indicated in the Sessional Paper no. 1 of 2005. The subsidized secondary education was implemented in February, 2008 by the Coalition Government. This was to reduce cost of education for parents, increase access to education and to increase transition rates from primary to secondary transition rates in coping with the United Nations aim to achieve Millennium Development Goals by 2030. The Kenya Government announced the release of 2.9 billion for subsidized secondary education and allocated Ksh. 10,265 to every child to cater for tuition and operational costs annually. The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of subsidized secondary education in Nyamache Division, Kisii County. The following were the specific objectives of the study; to determine the gross enrolment rates in public secondary schools in Nyamache Division in the last five years, to determine the impacts of subsidized secondary education on access to the existing educational resources in public secondary schools in Nyamache Division, to determine how access has been achieved by the subsidized secondary education in relation to teaching and learning resources in public secondary schools and to propose solutions to the problems of subsidized secondary education in relation to access on the educational resources in public secondary schools in Nyamache Division. The study adopted the descriptive survey design to investigate the various effects of subsidized secondary education in Kenya. The target population comprised of 28 public secondary schools in Nyamache Division with 2,536 students who are under the Subsidized Secondary Education Programme from which a sample size of 14 Head Teachers and 48 class teacher were used which made a total of 62 respondents. Data was collected, coded and entered into the computer for analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The collected data was analyzed using both inferential and descriptive statistics such as frequency tables, bar graphs, pie charts and measures of central tendency using SPSS. From this research it was found out that there is scarcity of learning resources, there was also delay in disbursement of funds to schools by the government and there was shortage of teachers in the public schools in Nyamache Division. The enrollment trend was also on the upward trend hence there was need to make early plans to carter for the expected learners seeking secondary education. The study recommends that the Kenya government disburses SSE funds promptly and posts more teachers to these schools in order to improve the provision of Subsidized Secondary Education in the country