| dc.description.abstract | Policy makers in Kenya have shown an increasing interest in expanding and strengthening the
country's secondary education system, but many challenges remain. As the country successfully
boosted primary school enrollment rates to nearly universal coverage, the number of children
seeking secondary education has soared. In an attempt to enhance access, programmes such as
Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) have been launched by the government. Yet secondary
education. must fill dual roles: providing skills, knowledge, and technical training for youth
planning to enter the labour force, while at the same time preparing others for continuing their
studies in higher education. Unfortunately, secondary education may fail to fulfill these roles due
to a myriad of challenges. Delayed disbursement and inadequate government subsidies, a
shortage of physical facilities, teaching learning resources, teachers, the inability to pay for
compulsory items are collectively threatening to compromise the quality and even derail the free
day secondary education. This study investigated the challenges of implementation of free day
secondary education in Nyeri South District. The study looked at the teacher pupil ratios, the
textbook pupil ratios, the adequacy and timeliness of government subsidies, the physical
facilities and the compulsory items that parents purchase. The researcher adopted a descriptive
survey research design to conduct the study. The target population consisted of all public
secondary schools in Nyeri South District. The district had a total of 33 public secondary schools
with a student enrollment of 11,094 students and 403 teachers. A stratified random sample of 18
schools was selected. Data was collected using two sets of instruments, a questionnaire for the
principals and an observation guide. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS). The analyzed data was presented using frequency distribution tables, bar
graphs, pie charts and frequency polygons. The findings of this study provide information to all
stakeholders in the education sector that could be useful in ensuring success of the free day
secondary education programme. The government, through the Ministry of education, could use
the study in evaluating and strengthening access to education. The information is useful to
parents in determining the necessary contributions they ought to make towards free secondary
education; the parents will also be aware of the extent of government support towards free day
secondary education and thus make them adequately prepared to meet their responsibilities
towards education of their children. The study established that; the government FDSE subsidies
are inadequate and are not disbursed in time, cost of compulsory items and other direct payments
by parents are prohibitive, all schools are facing an acute shortage of teaching staff,
textbook/pupil ratios are adequate, physical facilities directly related to classroom teaching are
adequate others are not. The following recommendations have been made, budgetary allocation
review, address cost of compulsory items, disbursements of funds should be timely, employ
more teachers, identify and assist those students who are eligible to enroll to secondary schools
and provide the infrastructure for special rooms. Further research can be conducted to identify
cost cutting measures in schools, indentify the percentage of eligible students who fail to enroll
in secondary schools and the use ofICT integration to cater for the teacher shortage. | en_US |
