| dc.description.abstract | It was until January 2003 when the NARC government introduced the Free Primary Education
(FPE). FPE was intended to benefit millions of poor children through the abolition of fees and
levies, with this came many challenges that the government continues to face. The issue of
proper management of the FPE funds has been of great concern. After its implementations the
donors injected huge amount of funds. The research sought to find out the management of FPE
funds. The research had five guiding objectives which included: To assess the influence of the
headteachers skills on the efficiency of the management of free primary education funds, analyze
the influence of planning in the management of free education funds, then to assess the influence
of monitoring in the free primary education funds management and to determine the influence of
evaluation in the management of free education funds. A descriptive survey research design was
used to collect primary data. A pre- tested questionnaire was administered to target population
through key information interviewees. A series of formal interviews, self administered
questionnaire and stratified sampling was used to select one school from each zone. Purpose
sampling was used to select government officials. The author gathered information through
interviews conducted with head teachers, Deputy headteachers, chairpersons of SMC’S and
municipal Education officer. The qualitative and quantitative data gathered through interviews ,
observation and focus group discussion during the research was analyzed through discussions,
charts and tables and after comparison and categorizing common themes, it was used to help in
final discussion and conclusions. Research findings showed that the Head Teachers, Deputy
Head teachers, school management committee were all lacking the necessary skills to manage
FPE funds efficiently. The head Teacher received inadequate training in financial management
and also found that the process of managing FPE funds was too cumbersome and was being done
at the expense of managing the school curriculum and other administrative duties. The results
also indicated that planning monitoring and evaluation of FPE funds by the stake holders was
very inefficient due to shortage of trained personnel. It was also evident that the parents were not
involving themselves in the management of FPE funds because they had not been empowered.
The results revealed that skills on managing funds by the head teachers and chairpersons of the
SMCs had an effect on the progress of the school. The study revealed that at the ministry of
education office in Mombasa there was great shortage of auditors and inspectors and this
affected the planning monitoring and evaluation of FPE funds. The study recommended that the
ministry of Education should enhance cost effective accounting procedures and strengthen
financial management in the primary schools. The ministry of Education should also hire
accountants who could efficiently manage FPE funds. Parents should also be sensitized on their
role in their financial management of FPE and more auditors and inspectors should be hired to
allow for frequent regular inspection. The study also recommended that funds allocation should
be equitable and should be disbursed over the holidays to allow for planning and budgeting of
the FPE funds. The research recommended that further research should be conducted to
investigate the adequacy of FPE funds, Effects of Mismanagement of FPE funds and Challenges
of Financing FPE. | en_US |
