SCHOOL -COMMUNITY SUPPORT IN IMPLEMENTATION OF FREE DAY SECONDARY EDUCATION IN TRANS-NZOIA EAST SUB-COUNTY, KENYA.

Abstract

In January 2008, the Kenya government declared Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) in all public schools in the country as a fulfillment of Education for All (EFA) which is a global commitment and strategy to give children universal education. This programme was adopted following Party of National Unity (PNU) campaign pledge without prior research findings. As a result key aspects of the Free Secondary Education on academic performance remain unknown. This study was to investigate school-community support in implementation of Free Day Secondary Education in Trans-Nzoia East sub-county, Kenya. The study answers the following questions ; How financial management skills of school principals affect implementation of FDSE, the extent to which County Government has supported needy students, how does school feeding programme influence implementation of FDSE and what challenges face implementation Free Day Secondary Education. The study adopted Human Capital Theory based upon the work 0f Schultz , Sakamota and Powers. The study adopted the descriptive survey design and the population of the study comprised of 14 Day Secondary Schools that present candidates for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in Trans-Nzoia East Sub-County. The sample size consisted of Principals, Teachers and students.. Purposive sampling was used to select the principals and class Teachers, while stratified random sampling was used to select student respondents. The instruments for data collection were questionnaires, an interview schedule for Sub-County Director of Education and document analysis. Pearson product moment correlation co-efficient was used to determine reliability of instruments and a co-efficient of 0.755 was obtained which was above the recommended value of 0.5, while validity was determined by consulting with the supervisors, experts in research and colleagues from the School of Education ,University of Eldoret.. Data collected were presented on tables, pie charts and bar graphs. . Financial management skills of principals influenced the implementation of Free Day Secondary Education policy in terms of management of funds allocated by the Government The study shows many principals had attended an in-service course organized by Kenya Educational Management Institute, while most teachers had not attended any thus more Seminars and workshops was organized for Teachers. The study also shows that allocation of county bursary to needy students was not fair since the Ward Committee do not have a track record of beneficiaries, hence class teachers need to identity needy student .The study reveals that School Feeding Programme retains students in school hence participation in learning process. The implementation of Free Day Secondary Education was a challenge in many schools since, teacher-student ratio was high, physical facilities; Teaching/Learning materials were not adequate to accommodate students who qualify from primary schools. The output of the study was to provide necessary and relevant information to all stakeholders in the management of secondary schools including Ministry of Education, Education Officers and secondary school principals to help in formulation of relevant policies that are useful in improving the effectiveness of principals in management of Free Day Secondary Education Programme in secondary schools in Kenya .The study recommends that the government should increase funds allocated for Free Day Secondary Education and to timely disburse the funds to ensure smooth running of schools .Parents as key stakeholders should support fully School Feeding Programme to enable learner participate fully in learning activities .