Abstract
Access to secondary education in public secondary schools in Kenya has not been fully achieved due to rising costs in education. The Kenya government has therefore devised policies to help address issues of education access and retention through establishment of cost subsidies. The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) was established in 2003 through an Act of Parliament. The main objective was to mitigate the imbalance in regional development and provide people at the grassroots an opportunity to make expenditure choices that maximize their welfare in line with their needs and preferences. A key focus of CDF was to provide a devolved system of financing education. However, the extent to which CDF has succeeded in achieving this noble aim has not been evaluated. The focus of this study therefore was to find out the extent to which CDF as a means of financing education has succeeded in improving physical facilities, enhancing enrolment and reducing dropout rates in secondary schools in Ndaragwa Constituency, Kenya and to determine whether the impact is related to school type, enrolment, age and sponsorship. The study adopted an Ex-post facto research design where data were collected using self-administered questionnaires to 25 principals. Data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Hypotheses were tested using ANOVA and t-test at an alpha level of 0.05. The study established that there is no significant relationship between the impact of CDF in financing education and school type, enrolment, age and sponsorship. Based on the findings, the study recommends that CDF framework should be revised in order to assist schools to address pertinent issues facing them and to improve the quality of education in all secondary schools in Kenya.
Highlights
Education plays an important role in the entire development process of a country. Olaniyan and Okemakunde (2008) observed it is the human resource of a nation and not its material resources that determine the character and pace of economic and social development
The influence of how long the school has been in existence, school enrolment, school type and school sponsorship on the impact of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in financing education was determined in situ meaning that the influence was investigated without manipulation or control
Based on the foregoing findings it can be concluded that the impact of CDF in financing secondary school education is generally low
Summary
Education plays an important role in the entire development process of a country. Olaniyan and Okemakunde (2008) observed it is the human resource of a nation and not its material resources that determine the character and pace of economic and social development. According to UNESCO (2002), education outcomes extend beyond individual and national income: it is a force that develops well-rounded and engaged citizens and builds more cohesive societies. In this regard it can be argued that increase in education will directly accelerate technological and economic progress of any nation. Despite the immense benefits of education, Chiuri and Kiumi (2005) noted that it is an expensive venture. It cannot be left either to individuals or the government alone to shoulder the full financial burden, but must be a shared venture of individuals, private and public companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as the government itself
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