Table 2:
Performance in KCSE in Kericho County Secondary
Schools for the years 2004 to 2007
|
Years
|
Mean Scores
|
Deviation
|
|
2004
|
4.77
|
0.10
|
|
2005
|
5.83
|
1.06
|
|
2006
|
5.45
|
-0.38
|
|
2007
|
5.52
|
0.07
|
Source: Kericho County Director of Education Office, 2011
From Table 2 it can be noted that Performance
in Kericho County was not impressive despite the fact
that it had some of the top performing schools nationally. The performance from
2004 to 2007 was observed to be fluctuating as signified by the lowest mean
scores of 4.76 in 2004 and 5.83 which is the highest in 2005. This is an
indication that the County was not performing well in secondary education as
the mean scores remained below average for the years. KCSE is the ultimate
indicator of students’ academic achievement.
Research
Objective
Establish the influence of Free Secondary
Education Policy on students’ academic achievements in Kericho
County.
SYNTHESIS OF THE LITERATURE ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
Students’ academic achievement is the
ultimate measure of quality of secondary school. FSE fund is channeled to
improve on inputs so as to improve in its outcome which is academic achievement
(MOE, 2008). While trying to establish the influence of FSE policy on students’
academic achievement it was necessary to establish the utilization of FSE fund
on educational inputs which was part of the package of FSE policy to enhance
students’ academic achievement. The inputs include resources, time, and human
effort, material among others and output in terms of academic achievement as
signified by performance in national examinations. Financial resources are
crucial inputs. This is why globally governments have made efforts to subsidize
the cost of education.
A study by Macharia,
(2013) on the Impact of Free Secondary Education Policy on Internal Efficiency
of Day Schools in Gatanga District, Murang’a County found that in the period between 2008 and
2011, performance of day schools in KCSE improved where 37.5% of the schools
retained their previous performance while 62.5% improved. Survey design was
adopted in the study. The target population for this study was 23 day schools,
23 principals and 245 teachers. The sampled population consisted of 8 day
schools, 8 principals and 48 teachers. Questionnaires and interview were used
to collect data. Percentages and standard deviation were used to analyse data. The study had a small population and should
have been sampled. Correlation has been done to determine the influence of FSE
policy on students’ academic achievements. The study focused on the impact of
FSE policy on internal efficiency.
According to the Daily Nation (2014, March 6th)
poor performance in Lamu East in KCSE was due to
admission of students in form one with less than 250 marks in local secondary
schools. This is what is termed as poor entry behavior. Gogo, (2012) indicated in his findings that the increase of
expenditure on education by the Kenya government has least effect on
performance. OECD
(2000) showed that it is clear that in developing countries where resources are
limited, the class sizes are below the optimum size and may be linked to inefficiency
use of existing resources.
Kariuki et
al, (2012) did a study on the performance and influence of poor performance in
Mathematics Baringo County and revealed that factors
contributing to poor performance include under staffing, inadequate teaching/
learning materials, lack of motivation and poor attitudes by both teachers and
students, retrogressive practices. Descriptive survey research
design was adopted for the study. The target population was 1876 respondents
which comprised of Form Three secondary school students in Koibatek
District, 132 Mathematics teachers and 9 head teachers. The data for the
research was collected by use of three questionnaires; student, teachers and
head teachers questionnaires. Percentages were used to analyse data. The sample
population was not given in this study and the influence of FSE policy on Students’
Academic Achievements was not determined. The study focused on performance and influence of
poor performance in Baringo County.
A
study done by Soi et
al, (2013)
on the influence of school type on girls’ attitudes towards mathematics in Ainamoi Division, Kericho
District, Kenya revealed that there was no significant difference between
girls’ attitude towards mathematics in girls’ only schools and girls in co-educational
schools. However it revealed that there was a statistically significant
difference at 0.05 alpha levels in girls’ perception of ability between girls
in girls’ only schools and those in co-educational schools in favor of those in
girls’ only schools. A total of 200 girls (80 from girls’ only schools and
120 from co-educational schools) responded to a three-point rating scale
instrument that measured attitudes towards mathematics. Descriptive survey was
adopted. Correlation design should have been proper since the analysis
determine the relationship. This study focused on girls schools only in Ainamoi Division but did not determine the influence of FSE
policy on Students’ Academic Achievements.
A study on
an evaluation of the implementation of Free Primary Education in selected
public secondary schools in Kakamega District carried
out by Luvega (2007) found that majority (88.9%)
rated their performance as poor while a few (3.7%) this was because the school that enrolled
few students performed better than those which enrolled more. It revealed that
there is a relationship between the number of students enrolled in class and
their performance. This study revealed that enrollment has an influence on
performance.
Ngeno et al (2012) study revealed that in Kericho
District the performance indices in KCSE for day scholar girls and boarders
were 3.38 and 3.59 respectively in mixed day and boarding secondary schools in
2010. This performance was equally below average. This outcome was attributed
to school levies, indiscipline, family factors, entry behaviour
of the child, lack of interest on the girls’ to complete their work, the
attitude some parents have towards the girl child compared to the boy child,
and lack of required books. The study established that it was more cost
effective to educate a girl child in day school than a boarding school in Kericho District. The study population consisted of 150
form four students, 45 Heads of Department and 6 principals. The sample size
was 124 form four students, 35 HODs and 5 principals. The instruments for data
collection were questionnaire, document analysis guide and interviews. This
study focused on girls in day and boarding schools and did not embrace the
influence of FSE policy. Nevertheless,
it provided data on factors that influenced performance of girl students and
established the cost effectiveness of educating the girl child in day and
boarding secondary schools. This findings were similar that of the study done in by Ngeno,
et al (2013) on the determinants of girls
achievement in mixed day and boarding secondary schools in Kericho
District. This study did not determine
the influence of FSE policy on performance in Kericho
district since it was done before it was introduced.
This conceptual framework was adapted to focus
on independent and dependent variables. Independent variable was FSE policy
while dependent variables was students’ academic
achievement. The school levies was an intervening variable. This variable was
taken care of by including it in correlations to establish its influence.
Students’ academic achievement was determined by analyzing students’
performance in KCSE before and after the introduction of FSE Policy. Pearson
Product Moment Correlation Coefficients and coefficient of determination was
used to establish the influence of FSE funds on students’ academic achievement
in Kericho County.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
Ex post
facto,
descriptive survey and correlational research designs were used in this study.
The study population consisted of 45 secondary
school principals, 45 Director of Studies (DOS), 5 District Quality Assurance
Standards Officer (DQASOs) and 4,362
form four 2011 students drawn from 45 secondary schools in Kericho
County. The sample size for the students was determined using the formula by
Israel (1992) .Thus:
Where: n is the sample size, N
is the population size, and e is the level of precision.
This formula was applied in this study to determine
the students sample size. The students study population was 4,362 form IV
students.
n = 
= 366
Saturated sampling technique was used to
select the 5 DQASOs, 40 Director of Studies and the 40 School Principals.
Saturated sampling is whereby the whole population is used because it is too
small to be sampled (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003). This was adopted in this study to select
the DQASOs, Director of Studies and school principals as their populations were
too small to be sampled. Questionnaire, interview schedule, Observation Guide,
Focus Group Discussion Guide and document analysis guide was used in this
study. Reliability was determined by administering the instrument same
respondent twice at an interval of two weeks in 5(10%) of the principals and
Pearson product moment correlation coefficients was used to compute the
correlation coefficient. The correlation coefficient was 0.8 at a set p-value
of 0.05. This means the instrument was reliable as the calculated coefficient
was greater than 0.7.
Quantitative data was analyzed using
descriptive and inferential statistics Descriptive statistics in form of
frequency counts, percentages, gender parity index, cohort analysis and
Inferential Statistics in form of Pearson product moment Correlation
coefficients. Students’ academic achievement was measured in terms of KCSE mean
scores Correlation coefficients (r) were therefore interpreted to determine the
influence of FSE policy on the dependent variables in terms of direction and
strength of relationship Elifson, Runyon and Haber,
1990; Leedy and Ormrod,
2005) interpretation guidelines was used as shown in Table 3. This was adopted
in the interpretation of Pearson’s (r)
and coefficient of determination R2
in this study.
Table 3:
Interpretation of Pearson Correlation Coefficients (r)
|
Strength of the relationship
|
Positive (+)
|
Negative (-)
|
|
Weak/low/small
|
0.01
– 0.30
|
0.01
– 0.30
|
|
Moderate/ medium
|
0.31
– 0.70
|
0.31
– 0.70
|
|
Strong/high
|
0.71
– 0.99
|
0.71
– 0.99
|
|
Perfect relationship
|
1.00
|
1.00
|
|
No relationship
|
0.00
|
0.00
|
Source: Adapted from Elifson,
Runyon and Haber (1990);
Leedy and Ormrod
(2005)
RESULTS
Demographic
Characteristics of the Respondents
The respondents in this study included school
Principals, Director of Studies, DQASO and students. Their demographic
characteristics were as shown in Tables 4
Table 4:
Principals’ Gender and Headship
Experience (n=40)
|
Demographic characteristics
|
Frequency
(f)
|
Percentage
(%)
|
|
Gender
|
|
|
|
Male
|
30
|
75.00
|
|
Female
|
10
|
25.00
|
|
Total
|
40
|
100.00
|
|
Headship Experience in years
|
|
|
|
5
|
1
|
02.50
|
|
6-10
|
12
|
30.00
|
|
11-15
|
17
|
42.50
|
|
16-20
|
10
|
25.00
|
|
Total
|
40
|
100.00
|
Table 4 indicates that out of all the 40
(100%) school Principals involved in the study 30 (75%) were male while 10
(25%) were female. This shows that very few female teachers are as appointed
school Principals in Kericho County. This is in agreement
with the study carried out in a sampled number of schools in Kenya by Bosire et al (2009) where it was indicated that
out of the 30 sampled school Principals 22(79%) were male while 6 (21%) were
female. The school principals’ leadership experience was also indicated and one
(2.50%) had headship experience between 5 years, 12 (30.00%) had an experience
of 6-10years, 17 (42.50%) has an experience of 11-15 years while 10 (25.00%)
had an experience of 16-20 years.
From the findings in
Table 4, most school principals had headship experience of 6 years and above.
This shows that they had enough experience in school management and they were
able to give the relevant information on students’ academic achievement in Kericho County. Principals with experience can be relied on
for the authenticity of data collected. They were also better placed given that
the data required dated back to the year 2004 that required experience in
school administration.
Table 5:
Teaching experience before being Appointed as School Principals (n=40)
|
Years
|
Frequency (f)
|
Percentage (%)
|
|
5-10
|
2
|
5.00
|
|
11-15
|
5
|
12.50
|
|
16- 20
|
24
|
60.00
|
|
21-25
|
9
|
22.50
|
Table 5 indicates the school Principals
teaching experience before they reached the level of school principal. Those
principals with a teaching experience of between 5 -10 years were 2(5%) between
11-15 years were 5 (12.50%), while 24(60%) had a teaching experience between
16-20 and 9 (22.50%) had a teaching experience of between 21-25 years. This
shows that these School Principals had gone through all the ranks in the
teaching profession and had experience to be appointed as the school
Principals. According to Education Portal (2014) in the US most Principals
enter the profession after obtaining enough experience as teachers. This is in
agreement with the findings of this study and it shows that the principals were
able to answer questions on students’ academic achievement in Kericho County. This
is vital in determining the validity of data that was generated in this study.
Table 6:
School Principals’ Highest Professional Qualifications (n=40)
|
Highest Qualification
|
Frequency (f)
|
Percentage (%)
|
|
BED, BSC +PGDE, BA + PGDE, B.COMM + PGDE
|
15
|
37.50
|
|
M.ED
|
25
|
62.50
|
|
Total
|
40
|
100.00
|
Table 6 indicates the education level of the
school principals. Fifteen (37.50%) had a Bachelor’s degree while 25 (62.50%)
had Master Degree. Basing on the findings in it is clear that all the Principals
had the required level of education. Education Portal (2014) shows that in the
US the requirement to be a School Principals is a Bachelor of Education degree.
This is also applicable in this study and in agreement with The Basic Education
Act 2013 (Republic of Kenya, 2013). These principals were in a position to
understand and give the relevant information about students’ academic
achievement in Kericho County, given their academic
credentials.
Table 7: School
Levies incurred by Parents on average in four years before introduction of FSE
Policy for the 2004 cohort (n=40)
|
Type of School
|
Amount (Kshs)
|
|
Days scholars in mixed schools
|
63,617.11
|
|
Boarders in mixed schools
|
96,954.05
|
|
Girls boarding
|
105,299.00
|
|
Boys boarding
|
115,234.00
|
Table 7 indicates the costs incurred by
parents in terms of school fees and levies before FSE policy in 2008. The day
scholars in mixed schools paid on average Kshs.63, 617.11 in four years while
boarders in mixed schools paid Kshs.96, 954.05 in their four years of study.
The students in single sex schools paid higher than these other schools. The
girls paid Kshs.105, 299 on average while the boys paid Kshs.115, 234 on
average for the four years they were in school.
This data was important as it assisted to understand the genesis of FSE
policy on students’ academic achievement. It also helped to justify its
inclusion in the study as an intervening variable.
Table 10 indicates that the relationship
between FSE policy and students’ academic achievement was moderate and
positive; and statistically significant with a coefficient of 0.69 at a set
p-value of 0.05. According to Elfison, Runyon and
Haber (1990); Leedy and Ormrod
(2005) guideline Correlation coefficients (r) interpretation indicated that
this is a positive moderate influence. This means that FSE funding accounted
for an increase in KCSE mean scores. Coefficient of determination R2 is the square of the
Pearson’s r which tells how much of
the variance is accounted for by the correlation which is expressed in
percentages (Leedy & Ormrod,
2005). To account for the influence of FSE funding on students’ academic
achievement Pearson’s r was squared.
The coefficient of determination R2
= 0.48 which meant that FSE policy accounted for 48% of the variation in
students’ academic achievement. School levies which was
an intervening variable had a positive influence of 0.64. Coefficient of
determination R2 = 0.41
which meant that school levies accounted for 41% of the variation in students’
academic achievement. When school levies were combined together with FSE fund
it had a moderate positive influence of 0.66. Coefficient of determination R2 = 0.44 which meant that
school levies and FSE fund accounted for 44% of the variation in students’
academic achievement. This means that the mediating effect of school levies on
the influence of FSE policy on students’ academic achievement was 0.04%. This
indicates that school levies had very little influence on the influence of FSE
policy on students’ academic achievement. This also meant that FSE policy can
be relied upon in predicting the students’ performance in KCSE. This means it
is playing a moderate role in enhancing students’ performance in KCSE. Thus,
FSE funds are used to enhance student performance by providing the basic
requirements for improvement in academic performance. These requirements
include tuition equipment and materials, personal emolument funds, medical
care, activity fee, repair maintenance improvement and electricity, water and
conservancy. The other factors could be
type of school, teacher qualification, and students’ attitudes among others as
revealed by interview findings which accounted for 52%.
DISCUSSIONS
From these
findings study it shows that the higher the amount of money the school receives
the better the performance. Saleemi (2012) describe
Economies of Scale as the advantages that accrue to large firms, it applies in
this study because the bigger the school in terms of population the higher the
mean scores. Since kshs10,265/= is given to each student per year in a school
and the higher population the more the funds in such a school compared to a
school with less students. Therefore in this study FSE Policy has influenced
students’ academic achievements positively in Kericho
County.
The Director of Studies, DQASOs and students
during interview and focus group discussion indicated that FSE policy had
influenced performance in the county positively. This was attributed to the
availability of learning and teaching materials in the schools which they
agreed that it had made learning very effective for both the teachers and the
student. This was explained further when one of the DQASO said
:
During our routine quality assessment we have discovered
that schools have reasonable number of text books, teaching learning materials and
good facilities which have made learning for the students effective. The
teachers also find it easy to do their work because the required teaching and
learning materials in most schools are available. With this support from the
government through the FSE Fund, performance in the County has been improving
over the years though it has not been steady and it could be due to the
influence of other factors a part from the learning materials.
This is an indication that FSE funds in the
county have brought significant change in the quality of education through the
inputs as evidenced in improved performance in KCSE mean scores. The individual
subjects have also improved a lot since the introduction of FSE policy which
has led to improved students’ academic achievements. The other physical
facilities have also improved from what it used to be before FSE policy.
Another Director of Studies from one of the schools revealed that, “our school
really improved in the national examination after FSE policy was put in place,
students completed their assignment on time and they did further reading on
their own”. Similar to the students’ in fact one student explained that, “We
had enough exercise books and textbooks every year since form one, this made us
really improve because we would revise very well for the exams and complete
assignments”. This has further improved the students reading culture and
completion of assignments leading to improve students’ academic achievements in
terms of mean score.
These findings reveal that day schools benefitted a
lot from FSE policy. Since the students in day schools are those that the
parents cannot afford boarding school and they lack facilities and books. This
makes these students very disadvantaged in terms of learning materials and
facilities. It also lead
to improvement in these schools facilities and the necessary learning
materials, finally leading to improvement in student academic achievements.
This is in agreement with the study by Macharia,
(2013) in Gatanga District, Muranga
County which revealed that in the period between 2008 and 2011. Performance of
day schools in KCSE improved. It was concluded that the FSE policy had
contributed both positively to internal efficiency of day schools; through
improved performance in national exams. This is in agreement because the cohort
used for the study is similar to the cohort used in Kericho
County.
However, despite the improvement in performance
there were other factors that were revealed further that could have accounted
for the 52% since FSE accounts for 48%. These factors
included the following;
Boy/girl relationship was mentioned as one of
the factors affecting performance in Kericho County.
All the DQASOs emphasized that it influence performance in the county, majority
of the Directors of Studies also believe that if the students can stop engaging
in this kind of relationship they will concentrate in class. During the
students’ focus group discussion it came out clearly that students were
affected by these relationships. In fact one of the students said, “Some
students engaged themselves in relationships especially the girls, during class
time instead of reading they would read and write letters distracting their
attention since they always think of their boyfriends”. This shows that
boy/girl relationship has an influence on the student concentration and
eventually on their performance.
Motor Bike business was indicated strongly as
one of the factors influencing students’ performance in Kericho
County. The DQASOs felt that it had a big influence on the students’ academic
achievement. The Director of Studies also emphasized that, “ it has a big
influence in the students’ academic achievement because when these students
were required to be doing school work they were busy doing business, which is
common in day schools. This lead to these students performing poorly despite
FSE policy being in place, one revealed that;
This motor bike business has really disrupted
learning in our school every other time we have disciplinary cases, students do
not attend school regularly even to do their studies they have no
interest. The girls have been influenced
by these business men and they have ended up pregnant, getting married and
eventually not coming to school for some time. It has really affected their
performance in class something should be done about it.
This assertion shows that this business
really influenced the students’ academic achievement in terms of KCSE
performance especially in day schools. Since the students concentration was
affected by these relationships.
Family responsibilities was another factor
that was mentioned clearly by the all the Directors of Studies and the DQASOs
during the interview. The Director of Studies further explained that this
factor always affects the girl child making it hard for them to come to school
regularly and perform well. He further said:
There
was a girl in this school ever since her parents retired she was left with a
neighbor who has turned her to a house help and even at times after serious
counseling she revealed that the man of the house in the wife’s absents molests
her sexually. This affected the girl’s performance in KCSE since most the time
she was absent. There was also a boy who had almost a similar experience with
this girl and other students.
The students further revealed that their
female colleagues especially in day school were treated like house helps at
home because they have to do all the house chores. In fact one of the girls in
a day school said:
My
mother sells in the market and she would come home very later. This made me do
all the house work and take care of my sibling until she is back. Leaving me
very little time to read and do my homework. These lead to my poor performance
in KCSE.
This finding concurs with Ngeno
et al (2013) in Kericho
District on determinates of girls’ academic achievements in mixed day and
boarding secondary schools which revealed that family problem and
responsibilities had influenced the girl performance. It also concurs with that
of Ngesu et al (2012)
in their study which revealed that preference of boys to girls especially in
matters concerning education in ASAL areas.
Entry behavior was also indicated by the
Directors of Studies as a big influence to performance, one in a day school
explained that:
Some
of the students admitted in form one had very low KCPE marks making them
struggle very hard to get the concepts in secondary school. These especially
affects students in day schools since some were admitted with marks as low as
100 marks this made them go through a difficult time trying to learn making
them not do well when they did their final exam.
This is in
agreement with the report by the Daily Nation (2014, March 6th) which indicated that poor performance in Lamu East in KCSE was due to admission of students in form
one with less than 250 marks in local secondary schools.
Cultural
Practices for instance Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was another factor
emphasized by all the respondents. The DQASO said, “Girls who are taken for FGM
are always affected in terms of performance because they lack concentration in
class”. This is because of the teachings the girls under go during these
practices, this always make the girls imagine that they are now women and not
equally to the other girls. This finding concurs with that of Ngesu et al (2012)
in their study on when they revealed that FGM influence girls performance in
ASAL areas. It also concurs with the studies done in Baringo
County by Kariuki et al (2012) when it indicated
that retrogressive practices influence
girls’ performance in the county.
Drug abuse
was also another factor that influenced students’ performance this was stated
by all the DQASOs and Directors of Studies as affecting the boys mainly. The
Director of Studies said, “Drugs affects the concentration of these students in
class. This is because drugs influence the state of the mind and it lead to
lack of concentration on the students due to many side effects. This has really
influenced the performance despite the government’s efforts on free tuition”.
During the focus group discussion with the students it emerged that some boys
engaged in the following drugs, bhang, spirits, alcohol, glue and cigarettes
among others. A student said, “There were boys who take drugs and alcohol,
whenever they are in class they are restless and rarely concentrate in their
work”. This study with regard to girls is not in agreement with the study done
by Ngeno et al
(2013) which revealed that drug abuse was not one of the determinates in girls
academic achievements in Kericho District. The
current study revealed that boys are affected mainly by drug abuse and only a
few girls.
Students’ attitude towards their studies and
school in general had played a big role in compromising their performance as
was mentioned by the Director of Studies when they were interviewed. In fact
one Director of Studies said:
The
parents are to blame for these attitudes because whenever they are bringing these
children in form one the promise that they will to get a better school. These
students will always have them in mind that the school is not good enough and
because of this attitude towards the school that it is not good they find it
hard to settle down and learn.
Attitude was mentioned by the students as one
of the factors that had influenced performance in their schools. In fact a
student’s said, “Some of their friends felt that another school was better than
their school. This made them not work hard in class making them fail their
KCSE”. The other attitude the students mentioned was towards certain subjects
for instance mathematics, physics, chemistry among others. This students do not
like them because they associate it with some teachers they feel they are very
strict. The negative attitude always has an influence in students’ academic
achievement since the students do not do their best hence leading to poor
performance in class and eventually in the national examination. This findings concurs that of Kariuki et al, (2012)
which revealed that attitude among the students and teachers influence
performance in the Baringo County. It is also concurs with the studies done in Ainamoi Division by Soi et al (2013) on the attitude of girls
towards mathematic in which this study revealed that both the girl child in day
and boarding have a negative attitude towards the subject.
Indiscipline was another factor mentioned
during interview with the DQASOs and Directors of Studies. They explained that
this mainly affects the boy child and a few girls. The students tend to sneak
out of school, come to school drunk, untidy, bullying and fighting among others
are always sent home on disciplinary ground. This influences their performance
in class because they are not in school the whole term. In this respect one of the Director of
Studies said, “These students especially the boys who always sneak out to buy
alcohol, cigarettes and drugs are always sent home making them miss out in
class work and eventually did not do well in the national exam”. This finding
concurs with that done by Ngeno et al, (2013) which revealed that girls’ performance was affected
mainly by indiscipline in Kericho District. The
current study shows that the boys were affected more.
Pregnancy was mentioned by all the DQASOs and
the Directors of Studies especially in day schools that has really influenced
the girls’ performance. This is because when a girl is pregnant psychological
these child is affected by the changes, making them loose concentration in
class. Some of these students also deliver during exam time. In fact one of the
Director of Studies in a mixed day and boarding school said, “One of our
candidates went on labour during the KCSE time and
she had to do the exams in the labour ward,
unfortunately this girl could not concentrate because of the disruption of labour pains, leading to poor performance in KCSE”. The
students were also in agreement especially those in day school that there were
girls who were pregnant in schools and were not in a position to concentrate in
class. This factor had an influence on the girl child performance. These
findings concur with that Ngesu et al (2012) in their study on Critical Determinants of poor
performance in KCSE among Girls in Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) which revealed
that pregnancy has led to poor performance in KCSE in Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL)
areas in Kenya.
School levies was mentioned by both the
Directors of Studies and students as influencing the students’ studies. They
explained that FSE policy is not free the way it is perceived since the
students still have to pay levies and also buy other tuition materials. One of
them said that:
School
levies have influenced performance in the county because students are sent home
constantly making them not to cover the syllabus like the rest who are in
school. This makes these students not to do well during the exams since they
have not been attending classes constantly.
Basing on the findings of this study despite
FSE Policy there are other factors that led to the students not performing well
the way they would wish to. FSE fund caters for 40.43% of the required fee by
the day scholars while the parents cater for 59.57%. Parents with children who
are boarders in mixed school cater for 72.60% while government pays 27.40%. For
the single sex schools for the girls and the boys’ schools the government
caters for 25.62% and 24.88% respectively. While the parents cater for 74.38%
and 75.12% for girls’ and boys’ schools respectively (Table 8). This shows that the amount the government
pays is less and it cannot sustain learning in schools. This indicates that the
parents incur more on their children in terms of school fees and also personal
effects. This is in agreement with what the Directors of Studies, students and
DQASOs mentioned as the factors affecting performance. This finding is in
agreement with the study done by Ngeno et al (2013) which revealed that girls’
performance was affected mainly by school levies in Kericho
District.
CONCLUSION
FSE policy on students’ academic achievement
was moderate and positive with a coefficient of 0.69. This means that an
increase in FSE funding accounted for an increase in students’ academic
achievement. The coefficient of determination R2 was 0.48 which
indicated that it accounted for 48% of the variation in students’ academic
achievement.
RECOMMENDATION
With regard to the finding that FSE policy
accounted for 48% of variation in students’ academic achievement, the study
recommended that FSE funds should be increased to enhance further improvement
in students’ performance in KCSE. This would enable students to earn more
quality grades thereby raising level of quality secondary education.
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