ABSTRACT

The Kenya government, through the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 made secondary education part of basic education. This saw the NARC government introduce freeday Secondary Education in 2008 to enhance transition from primary to secondary level of education. Provision of a tuition free secondary education is a government policy targeting the poor so that educational resources can be equitably distributed across all members of society. This study sought to establish the influence of subsidized secondary education on access to educational resources in Kuria West Sub-County, Migori County, Kenya. The key objectives were: to establish the effect of FDSE on quality of human resource, to establish effect of FDSE on adequacy of human resource, to establish the effect of FDSE on quality and adequacy of physical resources and to find out strategies adopted by stakeholders to address quality and adequacy of resources. The study looked at the pupil-teacher ratios, pupil-textbook ratios, the quality and adequacy of physical resources and the strategies that stakeholders have adopted to address adequacy and quality of teaching-learning resources. From the reviewed literature, FDSE has led to increased enrolment at secondary school level thus the need to pace up teaching -learning resources to match the increasing enrolments. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The study was based on the Education Function Production Theory which views education as a production process through teaching and learning. The study population included the 20 public day secondary schools in Kuria West Sub-County with a student enrolment of 1403 and the 20 Principals of these schools. A stratified random sample of 20 schools was selected to form this study sample; 120 student respondents from the selected schools were randomly sampled while the 10 Principals heading the selected schools were purposively sampled to participate in the study. Questionnaires were used for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) then presented using frequency tables, and bar graphs. From the study findings, it was clear that the adequacy of FDSE funds was critical in determining the quality of human resources available in public day secondary schools. The adequacy of FDSE funds significantly affects the adequacy and quality of both physical and human resources. A good number of public day secondary schools had adopted strategies to deal with poor quality of physical and human resources. The study recommends that the government through the ministry of education should review the FDSE programme with a view to catering for financial resources required to provide additional resources to cope with resultant increased enrolment. The school management should work closely with other stakeholders like parents NGOs, CBOs to mobilize more funds to provide human and physical resources needed.