PHD-Department of Educational Management Policy & Curriculum Studies.

Permanent URI for this community

https://repository.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/299

Browse

Browsing PHD-Department of Educational Management Policy & Curriculum Studies. by Subject "Bungoma County"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Effect of Tuition Fees Waiver on Equity and Internal Efficiency in Public Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2020-08) Wachiye, Herman Joseph
    Tuition fees waiver in education has the potential to promote equity and internal efficiency in public education at all levels in all Counties in Kenya. When the government of Kenya introduced tuition fees waiver in public secondary schools in 2008, the students‟ enrolment generally improved. However, their progression and composition by their household socio-economic status in these schools in Bungoma County remained unknown. The problem of this study therefore was to answer this central question: what effect did the tuition fees waiver have on equity and internal efficiency in public secondary schools in Bungoma County for the period 2009 to 2014? The purpose of the study was to analyze the effect of the tuition fees waiver on equity and internal efficiency in public secondary schools in Bungoma County for the period 2009 to 2014. The specific objectives of this study were to: 1) determine the student composition by their household socio-economic status in public secondary schools in Bungoma County ;2) determine the effect of the tuition fees waiver on the crude cohort wastage rates in public secondary schools in Bungoma County for the period 2009 to 2014 ; 3) determine the effect of the tuition fees waiver on the student pass rates in KCSE in public secondary schools in Bungoma County for the period 2009 to 2014 ; 4) determine the effect of the tuition fees waiver on the average number of years per graduate in public secondary schools in Bungoma County for the period 2009 to 2014. The study applied the outcome evaluation theory and was guided by a descriptive survey research design. The population comprised of 115 public secondary schools and 40250 students from Bungoma County. The sample was constituted by applying simple random sampling, proportional sampling and purposive sampling techniques. The research tools comprised of a student questionnaire set and two document analysis guides. Data was analyzed both descriptively and inferentially by calculating the means, percentages, Gini coefficient and by applying the two related sample t-test respectively. The findings revealed that: 1.6% of the students were from the poor income households, 33.6% were from the low income households, 46.9% were from the middle income households, 15.5% were from the middle upper households and 2.4% were from the upper income households. The Gini coefficient for the student enrollment by the household incomes was 0.14, or a Gini index of 14%. With regard to the student wastage rates, the crude cohort wastage rates reduced significantly from a mean of 33.28% before the fees waiver to 15.02% after introduction of the waiver, with a p-value of less than 0.05(p<0.05). The student pass rates in KCSE increased significantly from a mean of 70.53% before the fees waiver, to a mean of 75.82% after the waiver, with a p-value of less than 0.05 (p<0.05).The average number of years per graduate reduced significantly from a mean of 5.73 years before the fees waiver, to a mean of 4.54years after the waiver, with a p-value of less than 0.05(p<0.05). In conclusion, students from the middle and upper income socio-economic households are the most enrolled in the public secondary schools in Bungoma County. In addition, the waiver had a significant positive effect on the crude cohort wastage rate, student pass rates in KCSE, and the average number of years per graduate in public secondary schools. On the basis of these conclusions, the study recommends that the Government of Kenya should uphold the tuition fees waiver, but adopt the targeted allocation policy when allocating the fees waiver, besides scaling up the level of funding toward public secondary education.