Influence of free secondary school education on provision of quality education in Kenya:A case of public day secondary schools in Nakuru North District, Kenya.

Financing secondary education is a great challenge to both governments and households. Secondary education, globally and specifically, in most African countries tends to be the most neglected receiving on average 15-20% of state resources Household burden in financing secondary education is also high. Thus, cost is a key barrier to transitioning to secondary school for the poor, who form the majority in sub-Saharan Africa. It is upon this background that the Government of Kenya introduced Free Secondary Education in the year 2008. However, its influence on provision of quality education is still unclear and therefore needs to be investigated and documented. This study sought to assess the influence of Free Secondary School Education on provision of quality education in Public Day Secondary schools in Nakuru North District. This study was guided by Human Capital Theory. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The study population included all head teachers and student leaders of day secondary schools in Nakuru North District. The study targeted all the head Teachers of the day schools and student class representatives (Form 3 and Form 4) in the target day secondary schools. The study sample was made up of 19 head teachers and 364 students, thus totaling to 383 respondents drawn from 19 public day secondary schools. Secondary data for the study was collected from school records and the D.E.O’s office, Nakuru North District. This study used questionnaires to collect primary data. The questionnaires were pilot tested and a Cronbach coefficient alpha of 0.708 was obtained. The collected data was coded, edited for errors and then analysed. Descriptive statistics and non parametric tests were computed with the aid of SPSS version 12.0. The study found out that despite the four years F.S.E has been in operation, its objectives have been focused more on the universal access rather than quality of education offered. It also appeared that very little review has been done to establish whether the F.S.E goals other than access have been achieved. It was also established that there was a marginal improvement in academic performance of students in K.C.S.E. This information is hoped to be useful to the government, School management and stakeholders in addressing the challenges associated with Free Secondary School Education for the enhancement of students’ performance in public day secondary schools