Influence of Government Funding In Addressing Educational Wastage in Public Secondary Schools in Kandara Sub-County, Muranga County, Kenya

This study assessed the extent to which the government policy on bursary allocation and bursary funds awarded influences the education wastage in public secondary schools in Kandara Sub-county. The target population was 360 students, 40 class teachers and 20 school principals. Data collection was done using descriptive statistics. From the findings, there was a response from 238 students. Findings showed that (50%) of the parents/Guardians are not in any form of employment, (33.6 %) are self employed, (7.6%) are employed in private sector and only 8.8% are employed by government where job security is guaranteed. From the findings majority of the students (55.0%) who applied for bursary funds received, while (45.0%) attested that they had never received bursary funds even after applying for it. Also there were some students who dropped out of for the past four years due to lack of school fees whereby in Form 1 (17.6%), form 2 (39.0%), Form 3(32.4%) and Form 4 (11.0%) a clear indicator that majority of students drop out of school in form two level, where parents/Guardians experience more burdens in terms of school fees payments contributing to the education wastage. Also (23.1%) of students repeated classes due to lack of school fees and because they are not consistent in school attendance, they end up not proceeding to the next class, hence contributing to the education wastage. Majority of students (45.0%) had been send home for school fees balances and they were absent for 1 to 2 weeks, (15.0%) were absent for 3 to 4 weeks, while (12.2%) were absent for more than a month. This depicts that majority of the students come from financially unstable families and spent a significant amount of their time at home due to school fees problems. To minimize the education wastage the Government should scale up the amount allocated to bursary funds in both the Constituency and County, to make sure that all the needy students from the poor households benefit from this funds and the policy laid down should be reviewed as per the challenges experienced in the past, devising new ways of supporting needy students with minimal political interference. In deed Government funding in form of bursary, if well embraced, it will reduce the education wastage that has been experienced in Kandara sub-County, since it will enhance equity in access, retention and transition of students in public secondary schools.