The Impact of Constituency Bursary Provision Timing on School Efficiency of Secondary Schools in Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya ()
1. Introduction
Provision of bursaries to need students is critical to enable them complete school (Wainana, 2005) . Transition from primary to secondary schools is low due to financial constraints faced by need learners (Mwaluko, 2007) . Because of financial challenges, secondary school drop-out rates in Kenya were at 30% while completion rate was found at 70% (Njeru & Orodha, 2003) . Human capital investment is important in economic development and therefore completion of school will equip learners with necessary skills for work.
(UNESCO) (2004) declared access to education as a right of man and accepted the possession of basic education as a human right for all citizens of a country. UNESCO (2007) observed that education is a crucial development issue, essential to human capacity building and poverty eradication. At the 1990 World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand, and again in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000, developing countries reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring universal access to first level education for their school-age children (Lewin & Calloides, 2001) . Lewin & Calloids (2001) further found that enrollment in primary schools had increased for many of these countries, although secondary education was quietly ignored until 2018, when the Kenyan government declared a 100 percent transition to secondary schools. World Bank (2002) , however, suggest that many World Bank member countries in Latin America and East Asia have shown a rising interest in expanding and improving their secondary education programs while many problems remain unaddressed. These include poor timing of bursary payment, lower completion rates for lower-income youth. Amount is given the appropriate note to support the school students (Ackers & Zomo, 2001) . School fee is a key determinant access and completion. According to Lewin (2008a, 2008b) , direct education costs compensate for 22 percent of the per capita household income in Bolivia of the 6 billion people in the world. Eight billion people are living on under two dollars a day and two billion people live on less than one dollar a day with 93 percent living in South Asia, Southeast and Sub-Saharan Africa, and improved access to education would reduce income inequality and eradicate poverty (Todaro, 2011) .
Kenya’s policy initiatives focused on Education for All (EFA), in particular Universal Secondary Education (UPE), and MDGs (Republic of Kenya, 2005a, 2005b) . The main concerns within the education system are engagement, affordability, efficiency, equity, inclusion, and operational efficiencies. The Secondary Education Strategy (Republic of Kenya, 2007) outlines Free Primary Education (FPE) adoption, Free Day Secondary School Education (FDSE) and secondary school bursaries as key to achieving the EFA goals. Some of the government’s measures to enhance secondary education include streamlining and changing the curriculum to minimize student and teacher workload and reducing cost burden on government and parents hence improving the amount given and supplying laboratory equipment (Republic of Kenya, 2007) .
According circular, No. G9/11/VIII/101 of 22/9/2003 by the ministry of education, The Secondary School Bursary Program was set up to; increase by allocating funds to disadvantaged learners. The aim was to increase access and completion rates MOEST (2017) . Funds are disbursed to schools to cater for needy students. The government set up the secondary school bursary fund.
The Secondary Education Bursary Fund (SEBF) was established in the financial year 1993/1994 as a support network to combat the adverse effects of educational cost-sharing on poor and vulnerable communities (Orodho & Njeru, 2003) . Since its establishment until 2003, the SEBF has been directly disbursed to all public high schools in the country; taking into account the school population, but the issues surrounding the appropriate parameters to be used and the reasonable amount continued to be debated. The board of the head teachers and governors is responsible for identifying and allocating money to the poor students. Nevertheless, this changed during the financial year 2003/2004, shifting the administration of bursary funds from schools to the Constituency Bursary Committee (CBC) in line with the decentralization policy of the government and the Constituency Development Fund Act (C. D. F) (Republic of Kenya, 2005a, 2005b) . It has also been stated that school authorities are not in the best position to identify the best conditions for identifying vulnerable students, as there has been a lack of transparency and accountability at school level about bursary management (Orodho & Njeru 2003) . The study therefore sought to establish wether bursary funds were disbursed in time to enale need learners complete school by schools retaining them in school to complete the circle of education.
Completion of education is important for it equips learners with skills necessary for productive work (Nyakundi et al., 2017) . Provision of bursary enables learners from poor economic background to complete school. Secondary school education bursary was established to ensure children from economically poor background completed school.
2. Theoretical Review
The human capital theory by Schultz was used in this study. The theory postulates that an extra year of learning translates to more earnings. He pointed that production development could only be adequately explained by investing human capital in the context of formal education, on the job training, and improved health care for adults, and workers’ mobility and relocation so that they can adapt to evolving job opportunities (Schultz, 1971) . According to this theory, people should invest in education for future gain in form of economic development. Investment in education is rendered for the anticipated gains of the future by the citizen and the society/government. This hypothesis provides a significant theoretical basis for this study as it illustrates the high government investment in education in the form of bursaries, and the societies lead to the advancement of education in Kenya by ignoring certain initiatives. In this analysis, human capital theory was used to decide whether the timing, for bursary provision influences internal performance of public secondary schools. Investment in education will be achieved by high enrolments/access, participation, strong transfer levels of retention to secondary school, and availability of services and resources. Since bursaries are an expenditure, this analysis examined the degree to which this commitment was made and how much of the bursaries were spent in human capital and its effect on internal performance.
This study was also influenced by the philosophy of radical school ethics, thus considering family history as a condition for the awarding of bursary funds. Louis Blanc, a French novelist and historian from 1848, backed the claim. The argument illustrates the need for a level playing field in order to create an economy to redistribute wealth from rich to poor (Selowsky, 2008) . The structural economic theory forms the basis for the Lorenz curve, the visual representation of the distribution of family income at one point in a particular country (Baumol & Blinder, 2008) . The Lorenz Curve measures the total percentage of households on the horizontal axis from the lowest to the highest whereas the present study sets the average percentage of income at the vertical level. The community is divided into five equal servings whilst using quintiles. Then the figures are used to compare the relative proportion of specific groups, such as the top quintile or the quintile below.
Sociologist in education believes that bursary funds promote equity by helping disadvantaged children access and complete levels of education. Without bursaries only able parents will send their children to school. Bursaries therefore promote equity in access and completion.
Due to its crucial role in catalyzing national development within culture, this theory applied in this study as secondary school education is very relevant in any educational system. Therefore, this should be a prerequisite for all countries at this point to maintain a high level of student enrollment. It was hoped that the bursary distribution mechanism would be inclusive and effective with the community’s participation in decision-making. Nonetheless, contrary to high expectations, questions about the bursary disbursement plan in line with timing under the bursary scheme are still wanting. Many poor students feel unhappy, hence the applicability of this concept as it finds the society to be a co-beneficial member of the bursary system of government.
2.1. Bursary Provision Timing and Internal Efficiency
Specific experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of cost sharing on schooling at all educational levels. The findings showed that cost sharing of curriculum and advice has a negative impact on engagement and completion rates through setting up bursary schemes. Some secondary schools continue to pay taxes, and the direct costs of participation appear to exclude the poorest families. Reforms are needed to reduce public costs per student; moving expenditures from disadvantaged families to those who can afford to pay and subsidize them within a specific and proper time, (Lewin, 2008a, 2008b) .
Abagi and Odipo (2010) reported a fall in enrolment and an increase in dropouts due to higher education costs and poor timing. Mitha (2005) found that high school costs were the major factor leading to low access to and involvement in Meru Central District secondary education, based on a study of factors affecting student access and participation in secondary school. Tan and Mingat (2017) suggest a limited number of scholarships granted based on income and academic performance should be included in equity mechanisms in this situation. This means that in low income families more education for an eligible child often means less or no education for another. A study by Gachugi (2005) on factors influencing student wastage in secondary schools indicated that retention of those who are already enrolled in schools for a defined cycle is hindered by poverty It adds to the parents’ inability to meet the educational costs. Gachugi claimed that maintaining those already enrolled in school is a crucial issue in the Kenyan education system, and thus suggested an increase in bursary distribution.
The administrative systems of the Constituency Development Fund are plagued by inefficiencies and irregularities, such as delays in disbursing funds to beneficiaries, corruption, political patronage and nepotism, IPAR (2009) . This influences the institution’s activities, which contributes to the transformation of education of poor students. On 22 April 2005 the circular of the Ministry of Education informed all District Education Officers to implement the circular on disbursement regulations of bursary for secondary-school. In line with the government’s policy on decentralization and community mobilization, the Kenyan government decided that bursaries for secondary schools would be offered at local and district levels from the 2003/2004 financial year. Since then, all bursary funds for secondary education have been sent through the bursary committee to the constituencies where they are disbursed, in the belief that societies are better positioned to accept the poorest among them. The purpose of timely discernment of funds is to increase access to secondary school, increase transfer and completion rates in secondary schools, and minimize gaps and inequalities in secondary school education provision (Republic of Kenya, 1995) .
The school bursary administration was based at the Ministry of Education (MOE) headquarters in Jogoo City until 2003. Head teachers and school administrators disbursed the funds to the vulnerable students during this time period. But a number of complaints emerged, among them, when the funds were disbursed at a poor timing. It was found that there was no timely disbursement of the bursary funds and, as a result, the funds affecting school operations resulted in disbursement. Timely discernment of funds is intended to increase access to secondary education, increase transition and completion rates in secondary schools, and reduce disparities and inequalities in the provision of secondary education (Republic of Kenya, 1995) .
Until 2003 the school bursary administration had been located at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Jogoo house Nairibi City in the shipment of badly educated students. In 2003, in response to those threats and other problems, MOE moved these to the districts. The reason for this move was to increase the quality and accessibility of educational services and the number of recipients. The new strategy promotes involvement of local community members, while increasing openness and accountability at the same time. This is also consistent with the 2002 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), (International Monetary Fund, 2002) which stresses that national development strategies and programs should be funded and poverty reduction supported.
The circular issued to each District Education Officer by the Ministry of Education on April 22, 2005, REF. No. G9/1/V11/101 issued updated bursary disbursement guidelines through the constituencies. The policy has been applied and distributed to circular Ref stakeholders in vacuum since the financial year 2003/2004. No. G9/1/(61), 22/9/2003, by all District Education Officers. In 2003, The government of Kenya agreed to decentralize and empower the communities according to government policy. Bursary funds for secondary schools will be distributed at the electorate and district level beginning in the financial year 2003/2004. Since then, all bursary funds for secondary education have been sent to constituencies in which the bursary committee disburses them; in the belief that societies are better placed to accept the poorest among them. Despite these requirements, the late disbursement forced students from deprived and orphaned families to drop out of college for the majority of the time they were in school and thus perform poorly in their study.
2.2. The Following Are the Concepts of Educational Internal Efficiency
2.2.1. Access
According to Martin, et al. (2004) , through growing educational opportunities for the school-age population, the conceptualization of school performance seems to place more emphasis on access to education. Because of this, several African countries, including Kenya, have focused on increasing the amount allocated to the education sector. Thus, these countries are now facing the trade-off problem between improving the educational sector’s efficiency and increasing access to secondary education (Martin et al., 2004) . This means that educational expansion affects an educational system’s efficiency. Since substantial amounts of money are committed to improve access to education, educational quality is facing a challenge as described by Brissed, et al. (2004) because the program does not receive adequate resources to solve the problem in terms of data, method and performance to the education system. There is limited knowledge about what teaching effectiveness entails, that very little is known about the internal efficiency with which different schools offer success and achievement to students. Nonetheless, with official education budget allocation shrinking inefficiency, Linden is an issue that needs to be understood and tackled.
According to Hadley (2010) , as deprivation rises and the level of investment in education decreases, politicians are finding creative and realistic approaches to enhance the operation of the education system and make education available for the advancement of national development; The problem confronting politicians is how to make more efficient use of available resources in the plan to insure that schooling meets its household and regional Odebero goals (2007) . This is the explanation why a bursary program was established by the Kenyan government to give funds to impoverished and orphaned students. In terms of fees, these students had a lot of arrears allowing the schools not function efficiently, creating a lot of corruption in schooling (Ohba, 2009) .
According to Mwaura (2006) , educational waste refers to human and material resources expended or “wasted” on students who have to repeat some amount in an educational system or drop out of school before completing a full cycle in a given system. It indicates the inefficiency of a school system, and also applies to the wasted opportunities from these students to gain the information. We need skills and values to lead a successful life and to continue learning (UNESCO, 1998: p. 48) . Lack of access to an education system is viewed as an aspect of reduction of human resources (Jolanda, 2010) .
Carlo & Van (2011) suggest that it is not right, in educational terms, to find lack of access to the education system as waste, because they have gained a substantial amount of education by contact with others in life and experience. From an economic point of view, therefore, mature people in society will contribute to the economy on the basis of their acquired skills through regular encounters with environment. On the other hand, there are some who argue that from the point of view of schooling it is obvious; that access to an educational system contributes heavily to the cost of education, UNESCO, (2007) . If a school declines or fails to meet educational goals, there is likely to be a loss of human intelligence, school buildings, resources, and other educational materials and teacher's work. This means that the internal output of the device will be low if the level of waste is high and vice versa. It’s clear that all nations’ common goal is to keep all enrolled children in the education system until the program’s goal is achieved. Nonetheless, because of external and internal causes, schools cannot support children as they wish (Becker, 2007) .
The school system has a great responsibility to reduce waste by controlling the internal factors which cause repetition (influences relevant to school). On high school; time-waste is replicated. Repetition is the most suitable occurrence to detect a system’s inability to keep students in it and its inefficiency in achieving its objectives (Martin et al., 2004) . So, the simple signs of waste I to address the problem of educational waste. It is necessary to understand dropouts and duplication in comparison to the forms of program that expose them. Some measures also indicate a school’s internal efficiency. As a consequence, a school’s internal productivity can be calculated by entry, repeat rate, dropout rate, completion rate and survival rates (Nduva, 2004) .
According to Wachiye and Nasongo (2010) , the Kenya government launched a bursary scheme for secondary schools during the 1993/1994 financial year in a report on access to secondary education through the Kandunyi constituency bursary network, in an effort to promote the transition from primary to secondary schools. The bursary dealt with vulnerable communities in high-potential areas and arid and semi-arid regions including juveniles, youth, slum children and elderly people. The study nevertheless found that the bursary allocation mechanism was widely misunderstood by providing bursaries to undeserved students and well-connected students for excessive enrichment and perpetuating inequality. Strong socio-economic background applicants earned more bursary assistance from poor families than their peers. This phenomenon was due to the flawed selection criteria for bursary beneficiaries and thus the transfer levels in the region remained low.
2.2.2. Dropout
The word dropout is defined by UNESCO (1998) either as leaving school before completing a certain level of education, or as some intermediate or non-terminal point of education. The underlying symptoms of failure, especially dropping out, are dependent on the type of education systems. It’s defined in terms of the features of the many educational systems. The period of compulsory schooling in different educational programs varies from country to country to times of class between ages. Early dropout is nevertheless a major issue in less developed regions, it is estimated that one-quarter (24 million) of the approximately 96 million students who first entered school in 1997 will drop out of school before they hit fourth grade (UNESCO, 1998) .
Dropout applies to human traits precipitating early departure from education. Dropout hypotheses origins include factors such as lack of education, student conduct, health issues, and deprivation. This theory describes the pupil’s personal characteristics as motives to drop out of school. Examples of triggers of pullout forcing students to drop out of school are also job opportunities. College makes dispirit students some of the metrics that can be used through completing their studies as a driving factor for change. Adolescent dropout behavior is often correlated with school experiences such as school dissatisfaction; poor academic achievement; attendance at the school; a sense that teachers and administrators do not care for children; and an inability to feel safe in a small, depersonalized school environment (U.S.A. Department of Education, 1999: p. 31) . The focus in this analysis, however, is on the provision of bursaries and internal efficiency, calculated with variables such as: access, repeat, drop-out and completion rate.
Student participation in the school element has to be identified as force-out causes. The pull-out effect, especially in developing countries, is the first and most significant reason to lose out. More school dropouts also added to the need for a period that would be used to sell labor and in exchange for a living that would benefit the family or the entity; Lisanu (2004) . There are many factors leading to dropouts, some of which are special to parents, such as poor health or under-nutrition, and the promotion of children’s education (Mellen, 2004) . Increasing dropout pressure also plays a role in factors at school level, such as teacher absenteeism, school proximity and poor-quality education.
The nature of schooling at Community level, type of education, degree of community support generates variables that can eventually affect chances of dropping out of school. In the decommissioning process both demand driven and supply-based variables play a role. On that basis, dropping out of school results in a focus on the students’ families and history in education. The research commissioned by Hunt informs the analysis. Pridmore (2007) respectively. We address the facts of the child’s health, ethnicity and disability; the child in the family; education costs; household characteristics; precursors for dropping out; And of recent Bangladesh studies. Influenced by social norms, a child’s personal characteristics will decide whether the child leaves, or is still being taught, World Bank, (2015) .
Several research studies investigate correlations between child health and educational outcomes, especially the effect of nutritional status on school enrollment and cognitive development (Ghuman et al., 2006; Alderman et al., 2001) , but only a few reports analyze whether bursary issues are directly related to school dropouts (Pridmore, 2007) . Studies generally suggest that dropping out is often the result of poverty, thereby severely jeopardizing children’s quality of education and development. Impaired childcare recording, however, is linked to undernourishment in early childhood (Grira, 2001) . The nutritional deficiencies in Bangladesh are correlated with slow progress in school due to their impact on the cognitive development of children, culminating in falling out of the school system (Grira, 2001) . The family background, especially the partnership between the infant and other family members and the responsibilities of the child, Determinants of dropping out of school may be significant.
Kids in many poor countries combine school and work to meet household needs (Admassie, 2003) . Not all kinds of child labour, however, lead to school enrolment (Hadley, 2010) . Many work activities are seasonal, particularly in agriculture, and the timing of the season does not correspond with the school calendar (Hadley, 2010) . Many tasks, such as childcare for younger members of the household, are labor-intensive and time-consuming and may hinder the ability of the child to learn and the willingness of parents to realize the potential benefits of educating their children (Ananga, 2011) and encourage children to take part in school work (Dar, Blunch, Kim, & Sasaki, 2002) . Another important aspect of the life of children within the home is the relationship with their parents, in particular the support of the parents for the education of the child and the expectations of the parents about the potential benefits of the education of their children (Ananga, 2011) . Welfare of the child and opinions of the parents regarding the potential benefits of educating their children (Ananga, 2011) are likely to receive parental support for the child’s education.
A study conducted in China by Liu (2004) found that most parents were unaware that their children had dropped out of school and abandoned the child’s decision to go to school, particularly for the older children. Liu (2004) said parents, particularly at junior high school, would not want to have the child punished for not having continuing education. In reality, at junior secondary level. The direct and indirect cost of education could exclude certain kids from the program. One of the main direct costs that affected the drop-out rate was the school fees they were assessed at. Accordingly, school fees in South Africa (Hunter & May, 2002) have been shown to be a significant reason for the decline of 27 per cent boys and 30 per cent girls. Because of the impact several nations have now adopted fee-free for the duration of the basic education registration. Others have also launched capitation measures to reduce school wage inequalities. Nevertheless, the recording of other gains and indirect costs to the poorest households (Lewin, 2008a, 2008b) . Compulsory pens/pencil wages, copybooks, private education, housing, and school today remain a relative economic burden on poor households (Ananga, 2011) .
2.2.3. Repetition
A lot of work has been done on the relationship between quality and educational outcomes in the developed countries. The results may not generalize well in developing countries, where repetition occurs more frequently, and are more likely to be adopted or at least accepted by the family rather than initiated by society (Martin & Acuna, 2002) . Children are usually just a few days away from school each year in developed countries (mostly due to minor illnesses). But in developing countries many kids are skipping several school days because of wealthy school fees. There, many students retake classes, since they did not regularly attend school the previous year. Though the conditions which generate them are counterproductive from a societal perspective, from a family perspective, these repeated choices are rational and even optimistic (Martin et al., 2004) . It is also an exception to the common association between low performance and duplication in class (MOEST, 2017) .
Because of their high academic performance, students are chosen to compete in Burundi and Kenya for restricted secondary opportunities, where most of the repeat occurs during the final years of the secondary process (Martin et al., 2004) . Thanks to those disparities, developed countries’ findings mirror those of developed countries: poor performance and early dropout were related to class repeat. Nevertheless, constant repetition continues because many school administrators, teachers, and parents assume that curriculum completion is equal to poor performance improvements (Ikeda, 2005) .
In general, teachers in developing countries are not trained to make rational decisions and are not subject to specific performance standards and formal appraisal systems, so many assessments have been carried out that rely on individual beliefs or prejudices rather than objective criteria. Brazilian Rural Research (Ikeda, 2005) , this, however, showed this advertisement choices were closely linked to the determined outcomes. However, when individual teachers make these decisions independently, they are subjected to the power of the frog pond: the success of the student is measured against that of their colleagues, rather than national standards. As a result, as they joined low-achieving schools in general, when they were admitted into high-achieving schools, more students became retained (Mwaura, 2006) .
According to Okoth (2009) , developing countries which are also more likely to be male than female, repeaters are more likely to come from families with lower ranks on socio-economic status indicators and associated variables such as parental and educational income. Their parents are less likely to engage directly with the school, to compete for the offspring. At nursery school, the most common copying takes place. Thereafter, Veerspoor (2007) occurs more frequently at levels following transitions to middle school, junior high school or high school than at other stages.
Limuli (2009) claimed that, although they may be perceived as directives rather than criteria, it is almost always the school that makes repeated decisions rather than the parents. Guidelines for students returning to school are usually based on teacher-led tests of intellectual and social growth (attention span, follow-up, social adjustment), and retention criteria are usually based on performance metrics and the ability to pay school levies in the first form. Because of a lack of tuition, college repeaters tend to be younger than their peers, and are more frequently absent from school. Therefore, comparisons of repeaters with other low-cost children eligible for or approved for special education generally show no significant differences in population in terms of intelligence, achievement or even social skills (Beebe-Franken, Berger, Bocian, MacMillan, & Gresham, 2004) .
UNICEF (2004) reported increased emphasis on compulsory criteria of U.S. education policies, sometimes including provisions for pupils to pass tests to apply for placement at certain class levels. For states that adopted these criteria, Class repetition rates increased significantly, particularly in the class that preceded the examinations. Also, states and large school districts in some class that set up promotional gates noticed that 20 - 40 percent of this class’s students were not prepared for promotion. Repetition increases the cost of education, because repeaters reduce the school’s enrolment ability and deter other children from going to school or overcrowding in the classroom. Repetition is one of the obstacles to the inability to attain universal education in developing countries (Ikeda, 2005) .
There is another cause of pollution from school as students have to take classes. This is often a prelude to dropping out, particularly for developed countries, according to UNESCO (1998) . In their approaches to children who do not understand the learning process, education systems around the world differ widely. In most developing and developed countries, educators encourage these students to retake the class to give them more time and information that they could not learn the first time. Usually, the approach is introduced in form one out of the belief that it is necessary for students to get off to a good start with their schooling.
For countries where high school entry relies on an end-of-secondary examination, it is also normal to repeat the final secondary class. A minority of countries appear to believe, according to UNESCO (1998) , that repetition causes more problems than it solves and thus adopts an automatic marketing strategy. The students then transfer to the next session while there was no comprehension of the subject of the preceding lesson. Some experts claim that the same school year is unlikely to help first-time pupils who haven’t learned much. I propose that a more intelligent approach is to provide these students with additional assistance to allow them to go with their peers to the next lesson (UNESCO, 1998) .
2.2.4. Survival/Retention Rate
Survival/retention rate is the proportion of a generation of students who, either with or without repeating a course, attaining a specified lesson or at the final level of an education period, remain together in first-class secondary education (UNESCO, 1998) .
Martin et al. (2004) describe internal enhancement as the amount of learning gained during school-age enrollment compared with the available resources. And use the percentage of the students that have completed the course as your metric. Internal efficiency thus includes measuring the educational system outcomes by illustrating the proportion of students who successfully complete a given educational system without wasting. External performance describes the way money is best distributed. It’s associated with achieving maximum schooling output for any amount of expenditure. Economists have a clear logical theory as to how bursaries can be applied to alternate educational activities (Nairesiae, 2006) . Increasing spending should be tantamount to improving the performance of education resulting from the last amount of money spent on an educational program. Consider, for example, a school that wants to buy new workbooks for students, and employ a part-time teacher to mentor specific students. In this case, the school would specifically spend the money that some say improves the efficiency of the workbook Therefore, spending money on workbooks should continue until the educational value of the two alternatives is the same (revenue from additional workbooks is likely to decline after the initial purchase of workbooks, so the appropriate decision is to buy a tutor at some expense rather than more workbooks). The same logic holds for all the instruments which a school receives, referring to the legislation previously stated. Often, internal output is called “price spread” or “price performance” (Sanothimi & Bhaktapur, 2001) .
In general, it is assumed that the intrinsic efficacy of each educational system has a strong co-relationship with the method’s instructional inputs, procedures, and outputs. On the other hand, Sanothimi and Bhaktapur (2001) , the problem of educational quality also affects internal performance of the educational system. Therefore, the intrinsic effectiveness and quality of the school system can be illustrated by assessing advancement, repeat & dropout rates at various stages of an educational system. In addition, efficiency includes cycle transition rate completion processes and survival rates at certain class and stage. In other words, enhancing the school system’s internal performance is essentially an increase in educational quality, since both depend on the school system’s instructional inputs, processes, and outputs, Lisanu Asheber (2004) .
The literature indicates that internal performance is influenced by method, distribution efficiency (timeliness of release of funds) and accuracy. The number allotted is dependent on our analysis. This research focuses primarily on the source of funding as a bursary fund, the requirements for allocating the funds, the timeliness of the distribution of these funds and the accuracy of the student allocation. This was then associated with the school’s performance in terms of how many winners are advanced to the next level, how many transfer students, how many drop-outs, how many retain or develop at the entrance stage, and how many complete the secondary school process.
3. Methodology
The study followed a systematic Descriptive survey and correlation technique research designs to gather data from respondents on the current status of constituency bursaries and its effects on internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County. Descriptive design was deemed appropriate as it allowed the researcher to gather information from the respondents in the shortest time possible. The designs allowed the researcher to compile both qualitative and quantitative data which was then evaluated using concise and inferential statistics (Kathuri & Pals, 2013) .
The design aimed at identifying and reporting aspects of a scenario as it occurs naturally. Likewise, when little descriptive research on specific aspects of the variables under study has been established, descriptive research is a non-experimental research method used for analyzing and measuring variables. This method is not used to determine an anticipated relationship between variables. This specification will also be fitting given the nature of this research, as it defines the independent variable (factors relevant to the bursary scheme), Moderating and interfering factors (Government Bursary Allocation Policy Guidelines) and how they influence the subject variable (Internal Secondary School Efficiency).
This was an arrangement of conditions for data gathering to match significance with the research objective. It was the conceptual framework that conducted the research in. It is the data gathering, estimation, and analysis model (Orodho, 2012) .
The study targeted 77,322 students, 257 school principals, 5 Sub-county directors of education and 5 Constituency bursary fund persons within Trans-Nzoia County giving a total target population of 77,589 persons, (C. D. E.’s Office, 2015) . The SCDE and CBF chairman were targeted as the key stakeholders of the public secondary schools who have the information regarding constituency bursary provision. The school principals in their capacity as managers of secondary schools were believed to have information concerning the quality of school learning environment, social-economic and family background of students and student’s characteristics which are privileged pieces of information unavailable to other participants. For these reasons, principals were considered to be the most resourceful persons in this study. Form three boys and girls in public secondary schools were also chosen by virtue of being in the school for long. It’s thus, believed that the form three students were well versed with the school and out of school issues affecting them. They had first-hand information regarding their social-economic status. The researcher settled on form three since form four was on exam mode by the time of collecting data (Table 1).
Statistical Analysis
Descriptive statistical techniques such as cross tabulation, frequencies, mean and percentages were applied. Inferential statistics used were correlation, chi-square and multiple regression to establish the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The analyzed data was presented in tables. In comparison, qualitative research is a formal, descriptive method used to explain and give meaning to life experiences, according to Maisory and Mellen (2004) . The popular trends were therefore established, qualitative data collected, arranged and then addressed under the study’s main target areas. This was eventually done using quotations.
4. Results
The impact of bursary timing on internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Kenya.
The study’s purpose was to assess the impact of timing allocation of bursaries in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya, on internal public secondary schools’ efficiency. To do so, the study implemented the most appropriate statistical techniques, cross tabulation, percentages, and frequencies. Hence, started with the first descriptive statistics for the variable's bursary distribution.
The respondents were asked to indicate if they received first bursary allocation in the year 2015 and their responses were summarized in Table 2.
As shown in Table 2, 147 (53.4%) of the respondents received the first bursary allocation while 129 (46.6%) of the respondents indicated that they never
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Table 1. Summary of the target population.
Source: C. D. E.’s Office May 2015 .
benefited from the first bursary allocation. Majority of respondents benefited from bursary allocation.
The respondents were then asked to indicate the month of first bursary allocation in the years 2015 and their responses were summarized in Table 3.
As shown in Table 3, of those who benefited from the first bursary allocation, most 93 (44.9%) of them were allocated in the month of September followed by January and February at 31 (15.0%) and 26 (12.6%) respectively. May was the least 2 (1.0%) months when students received bursary allocation. This implies that most of the respondents benefited from the first bursary allocation in third term when the government had already budgeted.
Cross tabulation analysis between first bursary allocation in the year 2015 and internal efficiency of the school was done and the results were as shown in Table 4.
As shown in Table 4, 46 (25.1%) of the respondents who experienced enhanced internal efficiency received the first bursary allocation while those who never received first bursary allocation were the majority (86.7%) who opined that, there was no internal efficiency in schools. This implies that first bursary allocation is a good determinant for enhanced school internal efficiency as most of the students who receive the first bursary allocation talk of improved school internal efficiency compared to those who never. This finding was supported by an interviewee who had the following to say:
…In most cases, students who receive first bursary allocation are less likely to be sent home for school fees and are always present in school. Therefore, the government should ensure that more students benefit from the first bursary allocation …Male informant, 47 years, School principal.
The respondents were asked if they received second bursary allocation in the year 2015 and their responses were summarized in Table 5.
As shown in Table 5, 134 (48.5%) of the respondents benefited from the second bursary allocation while 142 (51.5%) of the respondents indicated that they never benefited from the second bursary allocation. This implies that most of the respondents did not benefit from the second bursary allocation.
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Table 2. First bursary allocation in the year 2015.
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Table 3. The month of first bursary allocation in the year 2015.
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Table 4. First bursary allocation in the year 2015 and school internal efficiency.
The respondents were then asked to indicate the month of the year in 2015 when they received second bursary allocation and their responses were summarized in Table 6.
As shown in Table 6, of those who benefited from the second bursary allocation, most 116 (61.7%) of them received the second allocation in the month of November followed by October at 16 (8.5%) and September at 15 (8.0%) with March being the least 1 (0.5%) month when students benefited from the second bursary allocation. This implies that most of the second bursary allocations are in the third term when students have paid most of the school fees and sometimes it finds when students are doing their end year examination.
Cross tabulation analysis between the time in the year 2015 they received second bursary allocation and internal efficiency of the school was done. The results were summarized as in Table 7.
As shown in Table 7, 26.1% of the respondents who experienced enhanced internal efficiency received the second bursary allocation while those who never received the second bursary allocation were the majority (86.5%) who opined that, there was no internal efficiency in schools. This implies that second bursary allocation is a good determinant for enhanced school internal efficiency as most of the students who receive the second bursary allocation indicated improved school internal efficiency compared to those who never. This finding was supported by an interviewee who had the following to say:
…In most cases, students who receive second bursary allocation are more
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Table 5. Second bursary allocation in the year 2015.
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Table 6. Second bursary allocation in the year 2015.
Source: Research data 2017.
likely to sit for the final year examination that enables one to be promoted to the next class. Therefore, the government should ensure that more students benefit from the second bursary allocation …Female informant, 39 years, School principal.
The respondents were asked to indicate the time in the year 2015 their second bursary allocation was used to pay for their fees. The responses were summarized as in Table 8.
The chi-square is used to check the statement that row and column factors are separate from each other. The significant value (Asymp.sig) possesses the knowledge we are after. The lower the meaning value, the less likely the two variables are to be independent (unrelated). In this case, the value of meaning is so
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Table 7. Second bursary allocation and school internal efficiency.
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Table 8. Chi-Square tests for timeliness and internal efficiency.
a2 cells (16.7%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .78.
small that it is shown as 0.000, which implies that the two variables tend to be actually related. Consequently, the chi-square findings in Table 9 show that the two variables are related at the p 0.01 significance level. It shows the statistically significant relationship that exists between timely allocation and disbursement of CDF funds and internal efficiency in Kenya’s public secondary schools.
Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected which states that;
1) Ho1: Constituency bursary allocation timing has no effect on internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya. And accept the alternative hypothesis which states that: Constituency bursary timing has an effect on internal efficiency on public secondary schools in Trans-Nzoia county, Kenya.
The correlation results in Table 9 between timeliness of CDF allocation R5W and internal efficiency show positive relationship between the time of allocation and internal efficiency. The results show that timeliness in CDF disbursement
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Table 9. Relationship between timelines and internal efficiency variables.
**Correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed). Source: Research data 2017.
has reduced dropouts and repetitions rate of students in secondary, enhanced access of the vulnerable students to education, increased retention of students in school throughout the academic period, increased equity in accessing education by the girl child and has enhanced completion and transmission rate to university of students at (r = .704**, p < .001 significant level), (r = .713**, p < .001 significant level), (r = .684**, p < .001 significant level), (r = .741**, p < .001 significant level), (r = .730**, p < .001 significant level) and (r = .670**, p < .001 significant level) respectively.
The internal efficiency variables were merged through data transformation to form one variable and correlated with timely disbursement of CDF funds as shown in Table 10.
The results in Table 10 indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between internal efficiency and timeliness of bursary allocation at r = .796**, p < .001 significant level. Calculating the coefficient of determinant R, reveals that timeliness in disbursement of bursary funds contributes 63.30% variability to the internal efficiency of secondary school when all other factors are held constant (Table 11).
Internal efficiency of public secondary schools = 1.953 + .104X1 + 102X2 + 101X3
where
αo = 1.953 is a constant, shows that if all independent variables were rated zero, internal efficiency of public secondary schools rating would be 1.953.
Sending money from the central government (standardize ß = .104). This value indicates that as Sending money from the central government improves by one standard deviation, internal efficiency of public secondary schools increases by .104 standard deviations when other factors are held constant.
Vetting of students (standardize ß = .102). This value indicates that as Vetting of students improves by one standard deviation, internal efficiency of public secondary schools increases by .102 standard deviations when other factors are held constant.
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Table 10. Correlation between internal efficiency factors and timeliness of CDF disbursement.
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Source: Research data 2017.
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Table 11. Regression coefficients for constituency bursary allocation timing on internal efficiency of schools.
a. Dependent Variable: internal efficiency of public secondary schools.
Sending money to students’ accounts (standardize ß = .101). This value indicates that as sending money to students’ accounts improves by one standard deviation, internal efficiency of public secondary schools increases by .101 standard deviations when other factors are held constant.
The school principals indicated that there was delay in posting the funds into the students’ accounts making them stay away from school despite having received bursary. One board member revealed that, sometimes the bursary is diverted into another student’s account that is usually not needy but may have good connection with the bursary administrators. This leaves the needy student without funds and eventually ends up being sent home for non-payment of school fees.
There is delay in the vetting of students who are to benefit. Since constituency funds are released quarterly bursaries are never prioritized and students only receive bursaries at the last quarter.
This finding is in agreement with Jolanda (2010) which stated that it takes a long time for the central government to send money to the constituencies and then to the institutions. By the time students get the money they have already been sent away from school or have spent a lot of time trying to look for school fees. Therefore, there is need for a lasting solution to be found by this research hence gap to be filled by this study, by giving a recommendation to the problem since the report did not give a solution to the same.
This problem remains close to those faced previous before 2003 bursary disbursement. Until 2003, the disbursement of bursaries to schools had been concentrated at Jogoo House headquarters of the Ministry of Education (MOE). During this time, the funds were disbursed to poor students by head teachers and school administrators. A number of complaints, though, resulted from poor timing in the disbursement of funds.
The second goal was to assess the impact of bursary allocation conditions in Kenya’s public secondary schools on internal results. The research adopted the most desirable statistical techniques, cross tabulation, percentages, and frequencies for this purpose. The justification for this change was to improve the quality and accessibility of education services and to increase the number of recipients. The new approach facilitates the engagement of members of the local community, thus increasing transparency and accountability. This also coincides with the 2002 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), (International Monetary Fund, 2002) which emphasized the need to finance national growth programs and projects in order to reduce poverty.
The Ministry of Education circular REF.NO.G9/1/V11/101, updated guidelines for disbursement of secondary school bursaries by constituencies with a view to enhancing the norm for the timely disbursement of education bursary funds. Such strategy has been applied since the 2003/2004 financial year and has been conveyed to stakeholders via all District Education Officers with a circular vacuum Ref. No. Dated 22/9/2003, G9/1/(61). In 2003, the Kenyan government agreed to distribute the bursary funds for secondary schools at local and district level in accordance with the government’s policy on decentralization and citizen mobilization from 2003/2004 financial year. Since then, all bursary funds for secondary education have been sent to constituencies where they are disbursed through the bursary committee for the constituency, it is believed that societies are better placed to identify the needy students among themselves. Despite these provisions, the late disbursement caused students from impoverished and orphaned backgrounds to remain off-school for most of the learning period and thus perform poorly in their exams.
Therefore, the bursary administration and education stakeholders should ensure that the students/beneficiaries have their bursary used to pay fees either at the beginning of term one for enhanced school internal efficiency.
5. Conclusion
Considering the results and discussions, there is a statistically significant association between constituency bursary allocation and the internal efficiency of public secondary schools. The timing of the bursary, the conditions for the payment and the amount allocated therefore influence the internal performance of public secondary schools.
Recommendation
The Ministry of Education should liaise with The National Treasury to ensure timely disbursement of bursary funds in line with the school program to ensure high retention and completion rates in public secondary schools. Furthermore, the funds disbursed should be adequate to ensure retention of beneficiaries in school to completion.