TITLE:
Government Expenditure and Quality of Education: A Case of Public Primary Schools in Kenya
AUTHORS:
Stephen Mutuku, Julius Korir
KEYWORDS:
Quality of Education, Government Expenditure, Primary Schools
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.10 No.12,
December
31,
2019
ABSTRACT: Government allocation to
primary education in Kenya has been provided since independence. The financing
has been complemented by both community and household resources. The implementation
of Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003 increased enrolment to a Gross
Enrolment Rate of 104 percent in 2003 from 92 percent in 2002 but stabilized at
104.2 percent in 2015. Class-pupil and teacher-pupil ratio increased to 45:1
and 56.6 between 2002/3 and 2012/3 respectively which compromised the quality
of education and school effectiveness. This was due to teachers concentrating
on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations results at
the expense of skill acquisition in arithmetic and comprehension. The
compromise produced biased KCPE results that could affect key policy decisions
made based on the results. Despite increased enrolment that affected
class-pupil and pupil-teacher ratio, 35 percent of households’ expenditure to
education before FPE implementation was saved with the introduction of FPE. In
the past, the measure of education quality has been KCPE results which were mostly
biased. The KCPE results were low with FPE despite increased government
expenditure on education. Although FPE benefits seemed high, questions on
actual impact of government expenditure on overall school performance measured
by education quality levels had not been addressed before, during and after the
FPE implementation and they form the problem discussed in the study. Analysis
results revealed that government expenditure had positive and statistically
significant impact on enrolment and quality of education Coefficients for
school characteristics such as number of classes, teachers, books and
availability of toilets had positive and at least 95% - 99% statistical
significance with government expenditure. Further, coefficients for class types
and schools located in rural areas were found to affect enrolment at 99%
statistical significance. Further, education quality was low in 2004 as
compared to 2000 but improved in 2012 compared to 2004. Class-pupil & pupil–toilet
ratio, distance from small town, dispensary, bookshop, and secondary school, as
well as class type, contributed negatively to efficiency scores. Class-book
ratio, government expenditure, playfield availability, and class numbers
contributed to the inefficiency levels identified. On policy, it was clear that
the government should increase expenditure on education which affected overall
school performance in public primary schools. The expenditure should be
increased towards quality classes and teachers who are high determinants of
education quality.