Determinants Of Transition Rates On Primary And Secondary School Education In Kenya

Abstract

Ensuring an inclusive, and equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong holistic learning opportunities for all is Goal Number Four of the United Nations’ “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” where Kenya amongst other United Nations members ratified in 2015. The agenda is founded on the recognition that education is a very vital measure of socio-economic development of a country. In Kenya, not all pupils who are enrolled in primary school transit to secondary school which worries government policy makers. This study purported to investigate the determinants of transition rates from primary school to secondary school by pupils in Kenya and to establish the effects of primary school transition rates on secondary school education. Multivariate regression model and ARDL-Bounds tests were adopted to establish the long run relationships between the identified time-series study variables. The study’s findings revealed that parents’ literacy levels, income per capita, primary school performance and secondary school enrolment rates were statistically significant determinants of transition rates from primary school to secondary school. That primary school transition rates, performance at primary school and student-teacher ratio were statistically significant in explaining performance at secondary school education. The study recommends that in ensuring optimal transition rates from primary to secondary school education and in enhancing performance at the secondary school level, the government should re-engineer efforts in these observed variables.