Examining community financing of secondary education lunch programmes and their effect on provision of quality education in Kisumu county, Kenya

Abstract

The effectiveness of public financial support for secondary education is an issue of concern given the delay in submitting government grants, challenges of increased enrolment and inadequate resources to support quality teaching and learning. This study was based in Kenya; however, Kisumu County was chosen for its below-average KCSE mean score of 4.08 (D+) in 2017 compared to the average mean of 6 (C); low teacherstudent ratio at 1:59 compared to the required 1:45 and absolute poverty index of 41% compared to the national poverty index of 35.6. The purpose of this study was to analyze community financing of public secondary schools and its effect on the quality of education in Kisumu County, Kenya. The specific objective of the study was to examine community financing of secondary school lunch programs and their effect on the provision of quality education in Kisumu County. A descriptive and correlation research design was used in the study. The target population for this study comprised 214 secondary schools in Kisumu County, 214 school principals, 214 BOM chairpersons, the CDE, 48 CBOs and 51,243 students. Questionnaires, document analysis and interview schedules for school principals, BOM chairpersons, the CDE, CBOs and students were used in this study. A stratified simple random sampling procedure was used to sample the 64 public secondary schools in Kisumu County from which 64 school principals, 64BOM chairpersons, 16 CBOs and 387 purposively selected students were used for the study. The content and face validity of the instruments were determined by employing experts in the Department of Education Management and Foundations. The reliability of the instruments was calculated by using the test re-test and was calculated at Pearson r coefficient of 0.879. Qualitative data was transcribed and analyzed in emergent themes and sub-themes. The results showed that there was a positive correlation of 0.952 between Community financing, lunch programs and academic performance. The study concluded that community financing of adequate lunch programs significantly influences the academic performance of learners to a great extent. The study recommended that community financing of lunch programmes should be increased in order to achieve fully the objectives of the secondary education policy. The findings may be significant to policymakers, education planners and implementers on the requirement for the registration of institutions of higher learning.