Influence of Selected Institutional Factors on the Impact of Constituency Development Fund in Financing Education in Public Secondary Schools in Ndaragwa Constituency, Kenya

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.