Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.6, No.3
Publication Date: Mar. 25, 2019
DoI:10.14738/assrj.63.6211.
Oketch, D., Sika, J. O., & Gogo, J. O. (2019). County Education Bursary Fund Influence On Access To Secondary Education In Siaya
County, Kenya. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 6(3) 401-412.
Copyright © Society for Science and Education, United Kingdom 401
County Education Bursary Fund Influence On Access To
Secondary Education In Siaya County, Kenya
Dickens Oketch
Department of Education Management and Foundations,
Maseno University, P.O. Box Private Bag, Maseno, Kenya.
James Ochieng Sika Ph.D
Department of Education Management and Foundations,
Maseno University, P.O. Box Private Bag, Maseno, Kenya.
Julius otieno Gogo Ph.D
Department of Education Management and Foundations,
Maseno University, P.O.Box Private Bag, Maseno, Kenya.
ABSTRACT
Globally, there exist bursary schemes that are in place to enhance access and equity in
the provision of education to the disadvantaged. In Kenya, there have been bursary
schemes that enhances access and equity in the provision of secondary school
education.With Siaya County’s 16% of the population having secondary school
education, below the neighbouring Kisumu county’s 25%, Vihiga county’s 20% and
Kakamega county’s 19%, coupled with inequity in bursary distribution, the County
Government of Siaya came up with Siaya County Educational Bursary Fund (SCEBF) to
help improve access and equity in the acquisition of secondary school education. The
purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which the bursary scheme was
equitably distributed in Siaya county. Objectives of the study was establish extent to
which county education bursary fund allocation to the recipient influences access to
secondary education in Siaya County. Descriptive survey and correlational research
designs were used in the study. A third of the principals’ population which is 68
secondary school principals and 425 students sampled using Yamane’s formular
formed the study sample. The study results indicates that SCEBF allocation had a
unique significant contribution to access to secondary education (ß=.564, p=.000). the
findings further show that enrollment changed at about 31.8% due to funding
allocation in the county. The study recommended that there is need to increase
allocation of bursary fund to enhance access to secondary education in the county.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
In America there was No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 passed by the congress. This
was a re-authorization of the elementary and secondary education act of 1965 and it has since
become the focal point of education policy. According to former president George W. Bush in
2004, these reforms expressed his deep belief in US public schools and character of every
child, from every background in every part of America. The essence of NCLB was to widen
access especially for those who have been ostracized by virtue of their socio- economic status
or race.NCLB failed to provide real access to minority students’ reason being poor
funding.Participation of secondary education with a cost equivalent of US $ 200-300
represents a heavy financial burden even for middle income families. In many countries fees
and private cost often make it impossible in the absence of affectively targeted financial
support for the few poor children that complete primary education to enroll in secondary
school further skewing participation towards wealthy households (Lewin, 2002).