Determinants of County Bursary Fund Allocation on Retention of Secondary School Needy Students in Baringo County- Kenya.

Abstract

The reason for this study was to address the determinants of county bursary fund allocation on retention of secondary school needy students in Baringo County, Kenya. The county government of Baringo introduced bursary scheme in the financial year 2013/2014 with an aim of assisting needy students in secondary and vocational training centres to access learning and reduce dropout caused by lack of school fees. Despite the existence of this county bursary, reports on dropout of needy students are still recorded in schools. Baringo county government has an existing bursary scheme policy that guides on how committee is constituted, who to benefit, bursary procedure of application among other details. Contrary to the guideline, able still students benefit from the bursary fund leaving alone needy students who deserve the most. The objective of the study was to determine the extent to which adequacy, awareness and accountability of Baringo county bursary fund has affected retention of needy students in secondary schools. This study is guided by two theories, The Human Capital Theory developed by Schultz in 1971 and The Theory of Justice and Fairness developed by Rawls. These theories formed a basis of how bursary fund can help in building human capacity that boost economic production in a country. In addition, it helps to explain discrimination of needy student in their pursuit for education hence justice and fairness maintained. The study employed survey design in collection of data. A study data of 133 respondents were issued examined to arrive at the connection between the existing variables. Stratified random sampling technique was used to come up with the existing proportion of the sample. The Primary data was gathered using a questionnaire. The questionnaires were coded and edited for completeness, consistency and processed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) program. The analysis procedure included inferential examination and descriptive statistics. The descriptive analysis method provided the sample data in quantitative form that ended in producing mean and standard deviation. The study established the relationship between dependent and independent variables by conducting regression analysis which found out that the P-values of adequacy, awareness and accountability of county bursary fund were 0.002, 0.001 and 0.000 respectively which is less than the level of significance of 0.05, therefore it implies that variables are significant. For needy student to be retained in secondary school, the researcher concludes that all the determinants of county bursary i.e. adequacy, awareness and accountability studied should be enhanced by giving the priority it deserves by all stakeholders in the most effective and efficient way. The study recommended that bursary allocation to be increased for it to increase the number of benefitting students and bridge the gap between allocation and fee charged, awareness should also be promoted to reach out more potential needy students, accountability to be hence by improving on the county bursary policy. The researcher recommends performing a similar work-study to define to what degree the studied variables affect retention of needy student in secondary school. This would help to develop a generalized conclusion on the subject. Similarly, the study focused on the three determinants yet there are other determinants of county bursary allocation on retention of needy students. Therefore, more studies should be carried on the others to give a more detailed understanding of the subject matter.