| dc.description.abstract | The study aimed at determining the influence of devolved funds on internal efficiency of public day secondary schools in Gem district, Kenya. The major reason for this study was based on the fact that investment in education at whatever level should always serve to improve internal efficiency by improving enrolments, reducing wastage and enhancing completion rates as well as improving the quality of graduates of that system. Despite concerted efforts to invest devolved funds in secondary education in Gem district the Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) was the lowest in Nyanza province at only 11.7 per cent prior to this study.
Objectives of the study included determining the amount of devolved funds invested in public day secondary schools in the district; identifying how the approaches employed in the utilisation of devolved funds affect wastage rates in public day secondary schools; determining the criteria for allocating devolved funds among the different types of secondary schools and in the projects; to establish how devolved funds affect academic performance in public day secondary schools and to suggest intervention strategies that can lead to efficient use of devolved funds in financing public day secondary schools.
The study adopted the descriptive survey research design and employed the use of questionnaires, an observation schedule and document analysis to gather data. A purposive sampling technique was used to pick a sample of 30 public day secondary schools, 15 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) committee members and 31 finance committee members of Yala Town Council and Siaya County Council to take part in the study .Data obtained was analysed using descriptive statistics to get frequency tables and percentages. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software was used to generate the frequency tables and percentages.
The study found out that the devolved funds invested in secondary education was about 15 percent of all the devolved funds and the amount depended on the allocation per devolved unit. It also found out that the devolved funds utilize both the demand-side financing and the supply-side financing of secondary education and the supply-side financing received the biggest portion of all the devolved funds as was preferred by the principals and the allocation committees.
Another finding was that allocation of devolved funds followed the laid down procedures but more funds had been received from CDF than the Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF). The biggest portion of the amount used in secondary education goes to district mixed and newly established secondary schools to fmance classrooms, laboratories, libraries and administration blocks construction. Academic performance in the public day schools had improved as a result of the physical facilities constructed. The following recommendations were made based on the findings of this study:
· Devolved funds should be increased and considered for financing school projects in one phase instead of in phases since it takes long to complete a project while costs escalated.
· Devolved funds should allocate more funds towards the bursaries because building schools alone is not a sufficient condition for students to enrol in them.
· Local Authority Transfer Fund should be made popular as some public day secondary schools had never received funding from it and some principals new very little about it. | en_US |
