The impact of the policy of cost sharing : a case study of selected Kenyan secondary schools

Abstract

Convinced of the role of education in promoting and accelerating economic and social development, the Government of Kenya devoted the early years of independence to the expansion of the education sector. The Government, however, could not shoulder the whole burden of financing education for long and, therefore, introduced the cost sharing policy in 1988. Demand for education has considerably increased in Kenya, yet, the sources of education finances are experiencing constraints even with the cost sharing strategy. With increased poverty levels, many parents are not able to meet the cost requirements under the cost sharing policy. This study, therefore, intended to investigate the impact of the cost sharing policy in secondary education in Kenya. In particular, the study sought to find out the views of teachers, parents and students on the cost sharing policy, the costs of secondary education, the main participants of the cost sharing policy and the proportion of dropouts and absenteeism attributed to the costs of education. This study established that there was an escalation of school fees at secondary school level as a result of the introduction of cost sharing policy in Kenya as well as in the other countries cited in this study. Most parents viewed cost sharing as a burden because not all of them were able to educate their children beyond the primary school level. The study recommends that the Government should introduce better methods of financing secondary education that would enable poor but bright students to join secondary schools of their choice, establish policies of identifying needy students among others.