The sources and proportion of pupils transiting from primary to secondary education level from 2013 to 2017 in Mbita sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

Free Secondary Education policy was introduced in Kenya in 2008 with an aim of making secondary education affordable so as to enhance access, transition, retention and student academic performance. The purpose of the study was to establish the proportion of pupils transiting from primary to secondary education level from 2013 to 2017 in Mbita Sub-county. The results indicate that an average primary to secondary transition rate of 60.71%, with girls at 60.28% and boys at 61.18% in the sub-county between 2013 to 2017. The main sources causing low transition rates were sources of forgone earnings such as fishing, transport sector, charcoal burning / selling and peasant farming. By use of Pearson’s r, a strong negative correlation of -0.789 was obtained between forgone earnings and transition. This means that an increase in forgone earnings would decrease transition. There is thus need for the government to introduce incentives such as additional bursary allocations to the poor, increase FTSE fund and empower the locals through poverty eradication strategies.