The influence of alternative sources in funding free primary Education in Kaloleni sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

In Primary schools, needs have greatly shot up due to the introduction of Free Primary Education, in the year 2003 and the need for Education for All by 2015,hence the purpose of this study was to investigate alternative sources of funding free primary education in Kaloleni sub-county, Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to examine the usage of the main sources of funding FPE in provision of quality education ; to assess the alternative sources of funding FPE, to determine the influence of alternative sources of funding FPE and to assess the challenges faced by school management in initiating alternative sources of funding FPE in Kaloleni Sub-county, Kenya. Questionnaires were the main tools used for data collection for the Head teachers and Deputy headteachers while an interview guide was used to collect information from District schools Auditors, the DEO and the DQASO. A pilot study was conducted in two schools within the county that were not involved in the main study whose reliability of the instruments had a coefficient of 0.74 hence considered reliable for the study. Validity of the instruments was ascertained by discussing and assessing them with the help of the supervisors and other expert lecturers from the department for their impact which was included in the final draft. Reliability of the instruments was determined using the test-retest technique to ensure they measure the intended parameter and a correlation coefficient of 0.74 was arrived at, hence instruments were termed reliable. The target population comprised of all the 6o public schools in Kaloleni Sub-county, 60 Head teachers, 60 Deputy Head teachers and 3 senior Sub-county education officers. Stratified sampling technique was used to obtain equal number of schools from the 3divisions in the Sub-county. The schools were picked from the strata using simple random sampling method, where the Head teachers and Deputy Head teachers were used in the study. Purposive sampling method was used to get the Education officers. The sample size consisted of 20 Head teachers, 20 Deputy Head teachers and 3 Education officers. A survey research design was used whereby both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Data collected was analyzed by use frequency tables, pie-charts and bar graphs,using SPSS version 21 for windows. The research began after obtaining a research permit from NACOSTI, Kenya.The key findings showed that alternative sources of funding FPE has great value in improving quality learning, learner retention, motivation, Learner Teacher ratio, improvement of infrastructure in the school among other aspects. The study concludes that effective measures should be put in place to ensure that schools initiate and manage the alternative sources well to realize the intended purpose. The study recommends a comprehensive involvement of parents and other education stakeholders in funding FPE to avoid the problems of wastage and dropout in Kenya public primary school. The results are expected to be of benefit to parents, teachers, Education officers, government ministries and other educational stakeholders.