Influence of Free Primary Education Policy on Pupil Survival Rates by Gender in Public Primary Schools in Rongo Sub-County, Kenya

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1 Journal of Emerging Trends in Educaional Research and Policy Sudies (JETERAPS) 6(1): Journal Scholarlin of Emerging Research Trends Insiue in Educaional Journals, 2015 Research (ISS: and ) Policy Sudies (JETERAPS) 6(1):56-62 (ISS: ) jeeraps.scholarlinresearch.com Influence of Free Primary Educaion Policy on Pupil Survival Raes by Gender in Public Primary Schools in Rongo Sub-Couny, Kenya 1 Kennedy Odhiambo Owino, 2 Maureen A. Olel, 3 Sella A. Juma, 4 Benard Odhiambo Rari, 5 Sephen Moayo Monanda 1 PhD Suden, Planning and Economics of Educaion P.O Box Rongo, Kenya. 2 Maseno Universiy, P.O Box 333, Maseno. 3 Deparmen of Educaion Managemen and Policy Sudies P.O Box Rongo, Kenya. 4 Rongo Universiy College, P.O Box 431 Homa Bay 5 PhD Suden, Rongo Universiy College, P.O Box Rongo, Kenya. Corresponding Auhor: Kennedy Odhiambo Owino Absrac Free Primary Educaion (FPE) Policy inroducion in 2003 narrowed gender gap naionally; public primary school survival rae in 2005 was 90.4% (90.4% boys; 90.3% girls). However, Rongo in he same year posed survival rae of 99.1% (102.4% boys; 95.% girls). This sudy was occasioned by he fac ha despie FPE being in place here was sill huge dispariy in survival rae in Rongo Sub-couny. The purpose of he sudy was o deermine he influence on FPE policy on survival raes by gender in public primary schools in Rongo Subcouny. Ex-pos-faco and descripive survey designs were used in he sudy The arge populaion comprised of 42 schools, 1 Sub Couny Qualiy Assurance and Sandards Officer (SQASO), 966 and 624 Class 7 and pupils respecively. Daa was colleced using quesionnaires, inerview schedules, focus group discussion and documen analysis guide. The findings revealed ha, FPE policy had a posiive influence on survival rae on boh gender. The sudy concluded ha FPE Policy araced girls who had dropped ou of school hence overcrowding in classes in public primary schools lowering girls survival rae compared o boys in public primary schools, i was discovered hese girls did no dropou as hey consiued a higher proporion han boys in privae primary schools hence explaining he huge dispariy in survival in public primary schools. Sudy recommended provision of enough eaching and learning maerials in public primary schools o eliminae congesion and overcrowding which led o ransfers o privae primary schools. Findings are significan o, educaional planners, donor agencies, parens and communiy in maing decision in improving FPE Policy o enhance gender pariy in Public Primary schools in Kenya. Keywords: survival, free primary educaion, policy, gender, dispariy, rongo sub-couny ITRODUCTIO Sudies have found a posiive relaion beween educaion or human capial and economic growh (Sevens &Weale, 2004). Empirical lieraures have also quanified privae and social raes of reurn for differen levels of educaion in many counries (Psacharopoulos, Parinos & McMahon, 2004).These sudies highligh he poin ha he social rae of reurn from primary educaion is higher han ha from secondary and eriary levels of educaion. The public and meri good aspecs of educaion, especially in primary educaion, call for governmen inervenion. The launching of Free Primary Educaion (FPE) Programme in January 2003 was a land mar policy decision by a new governmen of Kenya. Seen by donors as a ey sep owards school fee aboliion, i opened he door o new level of donor suppor, and i has subsequenly aen he bul of Governmen and donor developmen funding for educaion. The World Ban gave a gran of Ksh 3.7 billion in June 2003, while Briish governmen hrough DFID had earlier given a gran of Ksh 1.6 billion o boos he Programme (Aduda, 2003). Free Primary Educaion (FPE) Policy inroducion in 2003 narrowed gender gap naionally; public primary school survival rae in 2005 was 90.4% (90.4% boys; 90.3% girls). However, Rongo in he same year posed survival rae of 99.1% (102.4% boys; 95.% girls). I is wih his concern of he social raes of reurns in primary educaion and heavy public invesmen behind he moivaion of his sudy on he influence of FPE Policy on pupil s survival rae by gender a public primary school in Rongo Subcouny, Kenya. Thus he sudy sough o esablish he Influence of Free Primary Educaion Policy on pupil s survival rae by gender in public primary schools in Rongo Sub-couny in Kenya. As depiced in Table 1.1 i is clear ha Rongo Subcouny is faced wih problem of aaining gender 56

2 Journal of Emerging Trends in Educaional Research and Policy Sudies (JETERAPS) 6(1):56-62 (ISS: ) equiy. Following he 2011 KCPE resul, i is noable ha gender arge in schools is almos me naionally, of he 776,214 candidaes 51.6% were boys and 4.4% were girls. Tha is very close said he Educaion miniser (Hon. Muula Kilonzo) when releasing resuls (Hudson, 2011). Even wih his increase, Rongo lagged behind he same year wih more boys siing examinaion 5.6% boys agains 41.4% girls. This clearly shows ha while he gender dispariy is a 3.2% naionally, he Rongo Sub-couny has 17.2% gender dispariy (Rongo Sub-couny Saisics Office, 2012).Despie his progress, daa from he World Ban show ha girls sill accouned for approximaely 55 percen of he ou of school children in As a resul, he Millennium Developmen Goal arge of gender equaliy in primary school by 2005 was no achieved and here is uncerainy surrounding he possibiliy of achieving his arge by 2015 (Aduda, 2003). Table 1.1: Primary School Compleion raes by Gender of Rongo Sub-couny, yanza Province and Kenya from he period Year Rongo yanza Kenya Boys Girls Boys Source: Minisry of Educaion, Saisics Secion Girls Boys Girls Public primary schools in Rongo Sub-couny, beween 2003 and 2010, he girls have lagged behind in primary school paricipaion. From Table 1.2 i is clear in 2003, he enrolmen of girls was 23,640 (44.3%) agains boys enrolmen of 29,710 (55.7%). In 2005, girls enrolmen was 25,110 (43.6%) agains boys enrolmen of 32,450 (56.4%). In 2010, he girls enrolmen rend for girls in Rongo Sub-couny remained he same, girls 25,056 (42.0%) agains boys enrolmen of 34,559(5.0%). Despie he inroducion of FPE Policy in January 2003, he ER of female pupils in public primary schools in Rongo Sub-couny is inermienly low as shown in Table 1.2; herefore, he need o conduc a sudy on influence of Free Primary Educaion Policy on paricipaion by gender in public primary schools in Rongo Sub-couny. The inroducion of FPE Policy by governmen had some objecives o accomplish ha is; reverse he declining enrolmen, o enhance access, survival and graduaion raes, o implemen secor policy goals i.e. EFA, MDGs which Kenya is a signaory, relieve parens from burden of cos of primary educaion, sreamline and raionalize uilizaion of educaional resources in schools, implemen provision of child righs Ac 2001 and o improve learning. From he iniial daa a Rongo Subcouny even afer he inroducion of FPE policy i shows girls paricipaion is sill waning even when he populaion census of 2009 shows as per Table 1.3 ha girls of school going age are more han boys and his is wha promped he sudy on he influence of FPE policy on pupil paricipaion by gender in public primary schools in Rongo Sub-couny, Kenya. STATEMET OF THE PROBLEM Free Primary Educaion (FPE) Policy which narrowed gender gap naionally; public primary school survival rae in 2005 was 90.4% (90.4% boys; 90.3% girls) wih a dispariy of 0.1%. However, Rongo in he same year posed survival rae of 99.1% (102.4% boys; 95.% girls) wih a wide dispariy of 6.6%. This sudy was occasioned by he fac ha despie FPE being in place here was sill huge dispariy in Rongo Sub-couny. This raises he sudy s concern on why his big dispariy exiss, when he populaion census of 2009 showed here were 39,121 (56.7%) girls of primary school age compared o 30,366 (43.7%) boys in Rongo Subcouny. Given he imporance of educaion o he counry and commimen of funds o FPE programme, children dropping ou of school are a drawbac o he counry move owards Educaion For All (EFA) by The sudy hus invesigaes he influence of FPE Policy on pupil survival by gender in public primary schools in Rongo Sub-couny, Kenya. LIMITATIO OF THE STUDY The researcher was no able o use all he schools in he counry due o financial consrains and ime bu his was covered by aing a represenaive fracion of schools in Rongo sub-couny, hus he findings can be applied in oher Sub-counies in Kenya. METHODOLOGY This research was conduced hrough a combinaion of an Ex-pos faco and descripive survey research designs. A simply random sampling was used o 57

3 Journal of Emerging Trends in Educaional Research and Policy Sudies (JETERAPS) 6(1):56-62 (ISS: ) selec 20 schools from he 42 schools ha were esablished by All he 20 head eachers and 40 class eachers of he seleced schools were purposively used. Glen Israel formula was used o selec 320 pupils from a oal of 1,590 pupils of class seven and eigh of he sampled schools. The Glen Israel formula 1992 used was applied as follows: n= 2 1+ ( e) 1590 n= (0.05) = pupils Where n -he sample size, -he populaion size, e - he accepable sampling error and * 95% confidence level Then proporionae random sampling was used o selec 195 and 125 pupils from he pupils oal sample size of 320 Class Seven and Class Eigh respecively (Kohari, 2004) which represened a leas 20.2% of he populaion. Gay (200) assered ha a leas 20% is a good represenaion when dealing wih a large populaion. Daa was colleced using quesionnaires, documen analysis guide, inerview schedule and focus group discussion. Face and conen validiy of he insrumens was deermined by expers in he Planning and Economics Year CLASSES of educaion, whose inpu was in co-operaed in he final drafs. Reliabiliy of he insrumens was deermined hrough a pilo in 4 public primary schools. The insrumens were adminisered hrough es-rees mehod. Daa obained were correlaed using Pearson r a an alpha level of The Pearson r coefficien of head eachers and class eachers quesionnaires obained afer calculaion were 0.2 and 0.79 respecively. Since he coefficiens were higher han 0.70 which is convenionally accepable reliabiliy, he insrumens were considered reliable. Quaniaive daa were analyzed using combinaion of descripive saisics in he form of percenages, frequency couns and means; Cohor analysis of he male and female pupils based on grade and cohor. Qualiaive daa from inerviews, open-ended iems of he quesionnaires and focus group discussions were organized ino hemes and sub-heme as hey emerged from he conen analysis. RESULTS Research Quesion 1: The research quesion responded o was: Wha is he influence of FPE Policy on he survival raes by gender in Public Primary Schools in Rongo Sub-couny? The responses o his research quesion by head eachers and class eachers were represened in figure 1 and Graduaes * * * * * * * * * * * * * *152 * Repeaers

4 Journal of Emerging Trends in Educaional Research and Policy Sudies (JETERAPS) 6(1):56-62 (ISS: ) Figure 1: A Flow Char showing he flow of he 1995 and 2003 cohors female pupils Year CLASSES Graduaes * * * * * * * * * * * * * *0 * Repeaers Figure 2: A Flow Char showing he flow of he 1995 and 2003cohor male pupils 2999 Figure 1 and 2 gives he enrolmens for he 1995 and 2003 cohors and he figures aseris are he repeaers he 1995 and 2003 cohors go in he successive grades when hey moved. (They are no par of he cohor survivors and are herefore subraced from he grade enrolmens o ge real survivors). Figure 1 shows decrease in he number of female pupil as hey move o successive grades up o he final grade boh before and afer he inroducion of FPE Policy. Overall here was decline in enrollmen as pupils moved o successive grades up o he final grade. For he 1995 and 2003 cohor female pupils, enrolmen was highes a class one of 1320 and 2115 and reduced subsequenly o 13 and 116 a Class Eigh represening a decrease of 3.3% and 43.9% for he 1995 and 2003 cohors respecively. For 1995 cohor, his may mean ha pupils repea due o reasons lie low grades in end year examinaions, drop ous due o eenage pregnancies, early marriages, inabiliy o pay school fees and social pressure emanaing from home. UESCO (2005) argues ha household barriers such as family resources level, povery and level of educaion of parens are a conribuing facor. These possible drop ous from he school sysem grealy affec inernal efficiency. To calculae AGSR of 1995 and 2003 cohor female and male pupils based on grade, following formula by Chesswas (1969) was used: AGSR= + 1 R+ 2 =Toal enrolmen, =Firs/Iniial Class, Class or Grade and +1=second Class afer he iniial Class, Class/Grade, for insance, in he 1995 cohor are he Class one female and male pupils in 1995 whereas +1 are he Class Two pupils of T=Year 1 of sudy, +1=Year 2 of sudy and +2=Year 3 of sudy, for example, for he 2003 cohor is 2004 and +1 is R=Repeaers, for insance in he above formula he repeaers (R) are in heir 2 nd class (+1) in Year 3 of sudy (+1). Research Quesion 2: To esablish Acual Grade Survival Rae, AGSR for he 1995 cohor a Class Eigh was calculaed as shown: The resuls were presened in percenages. AGSR for he 1995 cohor a class eigh for girls; R+ 1) AGSR= AGSR= X 100 % =54.3% 1320 AGSR for he 1995 cohor a class eigh for boys; 56

5 Journal of Emerging Trends in Educaional Research and Policy Sudies (JETERAPS) 6(1):56-62 (ISS: ) ) AGSR= + 7 R+ AGSR= X 100 % =75% 2170 Similarly, AGSR for he 2003 pupils a Class Eigh was calculaed as is indicaed: AGSR for he 2003 female pupils; ) AGSR= + 7 R AGSR= X 100 % =4.9% 2115 AGSR for he 2003 male pupils; R+ 4) AGSR= AGSR= X 100 % =0.% 3715 The findings show ha he 1995 and 2003 cohor female pupils who survived up o class eigh were 13 and 116 girls represening AGSR a Class Eigh of 54.3% and 4.9% respecively. These findings give a decline in he survival raes of he 1995 and 2003 cohor female pupils by 5.4%, meaning ha FPE Policy did no have a posiive influence on he survival raes of he girl-child in he Sub-couny. While Table 4. shows ha 1995 and 2003 cohor male pupils who survived up o class eigh were 1640 and 3000 boys represening AGSR a Class Eigh of 75% and 0.% respecively. Research Quesion 3 Table 2: Influence of FPE Policy on he survival raes by gender raed by he Head eachers (n=20) and he Class Teachers (n=40) Mean Raing Mean Raings (MR) Influence of FPE Policy on Survival Head Class Raes a) FPE Policy has improved aendance for boh boys and girls in public primary schools b) FPE Policy has reduced challenges faced by pupils in public primary schools c) FPE Policy has enhanced pupils learning wih minimal inerrupions in public primary schools. d) FPE Policy has reduced repeiion rae of boh gender in public primary schools e) FPE Policy has reduced social pressures from home such as pregnancies, early marriages, educaional coss ec. hence coninuous learning f) FPE Policy has enabled mos parens o enroll heir children o successive grades wihou inerrupions. g) FPE Policy has reduced drop ous of boh girls and boys in public primary schools eachers eacher Average mean raing Table 4 gives he raings of head eachers and he class eachers on he influence of FPE Policy on he survival raes by gender in Public primary schools in Rongo Sub-couny. This saemen ha FPE Policy had improved aendance of girls and boys in public primary schools was highly raed a 4.22 by he head eachers bu lowly raed by he class eachers a The low raing of he class eachers may be due o he fac ha here could be many irregulariies in girls and boys aending classes as evidenced from he class regisers despie he inroducion of FPE Policy. The high raing by he head eachers may have been mere assumpion on he par played by FPE Policy. Hidden coss of he girl-child educaion include saniary owels, and ranspor among ohers. Maruo (2011) observed ha girls say ou of schools for a number of days monhly due o saniary pads and as such affirmaive acion had been aen o provide girls wih saniary owels o eep hem in school. During he focus group discussion he female pupils mos of hem agreed ha hey aend school mos of he days in he wee. Ased wha could a imes preven hem from coming o school daily, hey menioned cases lie monhly periods and one courageous female pupil had his o say: Mwalimu I normally have heavy bleedings and for he second and hird day I avoid coming o school o sip ha embarrassmen from my colleagues and more so my male couner pars. The views of he pupils agree wih he findings in Tables 3 and 4 since despie he inroducion of FPE Policy, he survival rae of he girl-child of he 2003 cohor wen down o 4.9% from 54.3% of he 1995 cohor represening 5.4% decline as compared o boys who increased from 75% o 0.% of he 1995 cohor represening 5.% increase. DISCUSSIO Head eachers raed FPE Policy a 3.26 as a facor ha had posiively affeced he survival raes of he girl-child in erms of reducing dropous, bu he class eachers gave i a raing of Anoher reason as o why he head eachers may have a higher raing han class eachers is because he loos a he school dropous in oaliy which o hem may be a drop in he ocean, whereas o he class eachers one or wo dropous in a class may loo significan in erms of he class raio. However, he head eachers alluded o he fac ha dropous of female pupils sill exised hough a a reduced scale due o oher facors affecing he girl-child oher han school fees. A number of he head eachers gave peer influence, unwaned pregnancies and early marriages as some of he reasons ha led o he dropous of he girls in heir schools and one of hem had his o say: Fees may jus be a cover up o he reasons for dropous of he girls bu he major challenges ha affec he girlchild is peer pressure ha in mos cases leads o early marriages and unwaned pregnancies. Anoher head eacher suppored early marriages as a facor ha 60

6 Journal of Emerging Trends in Educaional Research and Policy Sudies (JETERAPS) 6(1):56-62 (ISS: ) leads o dropous by saying his: Two of female pupils in class seven dropped ou afer eloping wih men in hird erm. One of he girls had fallen pregnan while he oher had records of poor performance in class. FPE Policy having enhanced pupils learning wih minimal inerrupions was raed a 3.62 by he head eachers and 2.6 by class eachers. The discrepancy in he raings of he head eachers and he class eachers may be argued from he basis ha he head eachers are no in a beer posiion o now he various inerrupions affecing pupils in heir day o day operaions in he school. This is unlie he class eachers who mar he pupils regisers, ener heir classes on daily basis and inerac wih hem more ofen enabling hem o now he challenges affecing hem boh a home and in school. During he focus discussions wih pupils, hey agreed ha FPE Policy had enhanced promoion of girls from one class o he oher as here was less inerrupion such as going home o loo for fees leading o lac o coninuiy in learning. One of hem had his o say: FPE Policy has moivaed my paren o sruggle and ge he remaining amoun of money and his allows me o come o school regularly. Anoher male pupil concurred by saying his: Free Primary Educaion has helped many parens buy school uniforms wih less difficulies and his maes mos of us o be in school and concenrae unlie wihou FPE Policy where mos of us would eep on going home for examinaion fees as was he case wih my elder siser in 2000 when I was in class four. In fac she dropped ou of school a class eigh in According o he Minisry of Educaion, EMIS uni (2003) yanza Province recorded he highes dropous of female pupils in primary schools of 39% agains he naional which was 26.9%. According o Barasa (2003), drop ous are considered as a wase because each school cycle is aen as an eniy which should be aended in oaliy if he pupil is o reach some level of compeency. The head eachers raed FPE Policy o have reduced social pressures such as pregnancies, early marriages, educaional coss among ohers a 3.52, whereas he class eachers gave i a raing of his implies ha he head eachers viewed FPE Policy as having posiively affeced he survival raes of he girl-child because he girls educaion is minimally inerruped and herefore hey spend mos of heir ime in school leaving hem wih lile chances of falling as prey o social pressures such as early marriages and pregnancies. One of he head eachers had his o say: To some exen FPE Policy has helped he school in quelling social pressures ha was a big problem in he pas as mos of he female pupils do no go home frequenly o loo for fees which is an added ris o heir survival. These findings give an increase in he survival raes of he 1995 and 2003 cohor male pupils by 5.%, which means ha FPE Policy have a posiive influence on he survival rae of he boy-child in he Sub-couny. Therefore FPE policy had a posiive influence on survival rae of boy-child compared o girl-child in public primary schools in Rongo Subcouny as many girls ransferred o privae schools as indicaed by head eachers and SQASO COCLUSIOS The sudy concluded ha facors such as class congesion/overcrowding, saff shorage and ransfer of girls o privae schools pose real hrea o gains made by FPE Policy. If he facors ha affec pupil survival by gender in Rongo Sub-couny are addressed, he school going children will benefi a lo from FPE programme hence a big move in narrowing gender gap and reducing he level of povery in he counry as educaion is cenral o economic developmen. RECOMMEDATIOS The sudy recommended ha governmen should come up wih affirmaive acion o promoe more female eachers o head public primary schools who will be role models o female pupils o enhance survival; some girls are sill loced ou or drop ou due o lac of role models. Provision of public boarding girls primary schools in Rongo Sub-couny o ensure girls are in school always o curb issues of abseneeism due o child labour ha always leads o repeiion and finally drop ou. Provision of enough eaching and learning maerials in public primary schools o eliminae congesion and overcrowding which has led o drop ou and ransfers o privae primary schools. REFERECES Aduda, D. (2003, June 13 h ). Record sh 71 billion Allocaed o Boos Free Learning. Daily aion 13 June 2003, 3. Barasa, E Analysis of flow rends of sudens in secondary schools in Funyula Division, Busia Disric, Kenya. Unpublished Masers of Educaion Thesis. Maseno Universiy. Kenya. Chesswas, J.D. (1969). Mehodologies of Educaional Planning for Developing Counries. Paris: UESCO/HEP, Tex, Hudson, G. (2011). FPE Policy narrow gender gap naionally in primary schools in Kenya. Sandard ewspaper 2 December 2011,

7 Journal of Emerging Trends in Educaional Research and Policy Sudies (JETERAPS) 6(1):56-62 (ISS: ) Gay, L.R. (200). Educaional Research: Compeencies for Analysis and Applicaions (9 h ediion). USA: Prenice Hall. Israel, G. D. (1992). Sampling he evidence of exension program impac. Program Evaluaion and Organizaional Developmen, IFAS, Universiy of Florida. PEOD-5 Ocober. Kohari, C.R. (2004). Research Mehodology; Mehods & Techniques. ew Delhi: ew Age Inernaional. Maruo, T. (2011, May 25 h ). Girls o receive free saniary owels. Daily aion P.9. Pscharopoulos, G., Parinos, C.,& Mcmahon, J. (2004). Reurns o invesmen in Educaion: A furher Updae. Sevens, P. & Weale, M. (2004). Educaion and Economic Growh, in Johnes, G., and Johnes, J., eds., Inernaional Handboo on he Economics of Educaion, 27: , Vol. 3. UESCO (2005). EFA Global Monioring Repor 2005: Educaion for All, he Qualiy Imperaive. Paris: UESCO Publishing. 62