Education generally represents both expenditure and investment. According to Bickmore [1] education has been valued for its immediate benefits while on the other hand it creates income in future by providing educated workers with skills for high productive capacities thus receiving higher incomes. It’s both a private and social investment shared by individual students, their families, employers, governments and other groups. The work of Bell [2] Brandes and Ginnis [3] in Brazil on the student-centered school reported that the direct costs of education are financed by the tax payer rather than the individual student in most developing countries. It is also seen as government investment since governments subsidize education and in return get higher taxes from the educated [4]. 

Educational access as stipulated by Vidano and Sahafi [5] is the ability to provide all students with appropriate educational institutions, materials and personnel. All students must have access to and complete a full course of schooling and eliminate social and economic barriers and gender disparity [6].This creates the need to expand schools, establish new schools and provide bursaries to increase enrolments and improve transition, retention and completion rates. 

In Australia, the experience has been different. Studies by Whittle and Telford [7] found out that, municipal schools receive financing for infrastructure such as classrooms, playgrounds and also for operating costs from the government so as to expand schools which increased participation of students in learning. Availability of classrooms affects students’ participation in learning. According to Naidu [8] classes of over one hundred students make the students feel that they do not belong to the student body, become isolated and despair. The students cannot participate in social programs. In Bangladesh, as prescribed by Smith, Brooks-Gunn and Klebanov [9] the International Development Association (IDA) launched a female secondary assistance programme in1993 to improve access that provided tuition stipends to girls. The initiative increased girls’ enrolments from 1.1 million in 2002 to 4.9 million in 2009.The project also helped to achieve gender parity in education. The girls completion rate also increased from 39% to 62.8% in 2008 [8-9].

Majority of South Sahara African countries as reported by UNICEF [6] and World Bank, [4]; Nyagiati and Yambo [10] in Tanzania, reiterated that enrolment and transition from primary to secondary was very low historically by 1996 for instance, Tanzania 5%, Eritrea, Mali and Senegal between 10-25% .To increase transition African governments provided finance for establishment of new schools and to support the students through bursaries. Most of the countries had increased enrolment and transition at the secondary level by 2005 like. Benin from 12% to 18%, Botswana from 43% to 65% , Cape Verde 21% to 55%, Malawi from 8% to 17% and south Africa from 15% to 95% [6,10].

According to Mumbe [11] Barbuto [12] and the Government of Uganda [13] at the time, a United Nations (UN) report said Africa had the worst secondary school enrolment rates in the world with only 34% of secondary school-age learners enrolling in class. Girls and poorer young people comprised the bulk of those locked out of school by financial and cultural constraints. In Uganda the government aided community schools by giving capitation and development grants to improve school programmes and infrastructure. This improved access by expanding post primary enrolments by 40%, reduced student book ratio from 37:1 to 3:1 and increased girls enrolments to equal boys between 1993 and 2006 [14]. The Uganda government aided community schools by giving capitation and development grants to improve school programmes and infrastructure. This improved access by expanding post primary enrolments by 40%, reduced student book ratio from 37:1 to 3:1 and increased girls enrolments to equal boys between 1993 and 2003 [6].

The Kenyan case has rapidly improved over the years. The emergence of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Bill was established through an Act of Parliament, CDF Act, in 2003. The aim of the CDF according to Odhiambo, Odera and Yambo [15].was to devolve national resources at the community level with the aim of spurring economic development at the grassroots level, which would then translate to overall national economic growth and poverty reduction [16]. Ultimately, the CDF, as was envisaged, would lead to poverty reduction, improved well-being of Kenyans and political empowerment of Kenyan communities. The fund intended to complement other existing funds being directed at community level. These include, Bursary Funds, HIV/AIDS Funds, Fuel Levy Funds and Roads Maintenance. 

The Kenyan Constituency Development Fund (CDF) as stated by Ayodo and Simatwa [17] Awiti [18] was entrusted to provides finance for expansion of schools through construction and improvement of classrooms and laboratories, establishment of new schools and bursaries to students (The constituency fund is the independent variable while access to education is the dependent variable affected by the constituency fund through financing of classrooms, laboratories, new schools, and bursaries. According to Yambo [19] this would improve access by increased enrolments through new schools, improved quality of teaching and learning through classrooms and laboratories. The retention and completion rates would improve due to reduction of economic barriers and gender disparity through bursaries. Research done by Kirui, Yambo and Langat [20] who indicated that these funds are for the expansion of schools and involves the renovation of existing schools, construction of libraries, laboratories, classrooms and other infrastructure to improve access by admitting more students. It also involves the provision of grants to improve school programmes. 

Since independence in 1963, the government and the people of Kenya have been committed to expanding secondary education to enable its access. Thus, the constituency development fund provides finance for expansion of schools through construction and improvement of classrooms and laboratories, establishment of new schools and bursaries to students. The constituency fund is the independent variable while access to education is the dependent variable affected by the constituency fund through financing of classrooms, laboratories, new schools, and bursaries. This will improve access by increased enrolments through new schools, improved quality of teaching and learning through classrooms and laboratories. The retention and completion rates will improve due to reduction of economic barriers and gender disparity through bursaries [17]. This justified the establishment of secondary schools through the CDF fund in Suna West Sub-County hence this study.

This study adopted descriptive survey research design. According to Bloomberg and Volpe [21] the intention of a descriptive survey research design was to gather data at a particular point in time and use it to describe the nature of existing conditions. Further, Best and Khan [22] argues that descriptive survey research is used to describe behaviors and attributes that are observed and measured, rather than tested with an experiment. Hence, this study employed the descriptive survey research design to examine the influence of National Government Constituency Development Funds (NG-CDF) on management of secondary schools in Suna west constituency, Migori County, Kenya.

Target Population

The work of Bloomberg and Volpe [21] define target population as a group of individuals with one or more characteristics of interest to a researcher. The target population for this study was 154 persons comprising of 88 PTA class representatives, 22 PTA chairmen, 22 BOM representatives and 22 principals in all the 22 public secondary schools in Suna west constituency. The private schools were left out since they had different sources of funding not regulated by the government. Table 1 provides a summary of the targeted population.

Table 1: Sampling Technique

Purposive sampling technique was adopted, whereby the selection of respondent was done. Since the principals and PTA chairmen were few, the researcher considered all of them 22 for each. The PTA representatives were many, 88 of the population so the researcher used 30% to find 26 of the target population, which according to Bloomberg and Volpe [21]; Best and Khan [22], is statistically significant for research. The study used different tools and techniques to improve accuracy of data and to validate Data was collected using in-depth interviews, questionnaires, and documentary analysis. Validity of the research instruments was guaranteed by giving the instruments to two experts in research methodology in the faculty of Education Administration, Planning and Economics of Mt. Kenya University to scrutinize and ensure that they were reflected to objectives. For reliability, a test re-test of the findings was calculated and a Pearson’s correlation coefficient of 0.836 was obtained, which, according to Best and Khan [22] was considered reliable.

Findings

Influence of Infrastructure Development through NG-CDF on Management of Secondary Schools: The study adopted descriptive statistical techniques such as

frequency, percentage and mean distribution. This helped to determine the influence of infrastructure development through NG-CDF on management of secondary schools in Suna West Constituency, Migori County, Kenya. For analysis, descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage and mean distribution) for the level of agreement on a two point likert scale of the variable, infrastructure development was determined and summarized in Table 2.

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for Influence of Infrastructure Development through NG-CDF on Management of Secondary Schools

Source: Survey Data (2019)

Table 2 shows that 14(64%) of the principals, 18 (69%) of BOM representatives and 13 (59%) PTA chairmen agreed with the statement that increased number of classrooms constructed through NG-CDF influenced effective management of secondary schools. The study findings suggested that the respondents tended to agree (Mean=3.90) that increased number of classrooms constructed through NG-CDF led to effective management of secondary schools. This implies that construction of more classrooms through NG-CDF lead to effective management of secondary schools. This is in agreement with the findings of Yambo [19] and Mumbe [11] that the central government must also provide physical facilities such as classrooms for effective management of secondary schools.

It emerged from the study that the respondents tended to agree (Mean=3.96) that increased number of laboratories constructed through NG-CDF led to effective management of secondary schools. This implies that construction of more laboratories through NG-CDF lead to effective management of secondary schools. This is in line with the findings of Ayodo and Simatwa [17] that availability of laboratories affects the students’ performance in examination. Investments are needed to improve laboratories and workshops to promote experimental culture. At least a science laboratory with the necessary equipment needed to be set up in each secondary school and at least three laboratories for science subjects in higher secondary schools.

Lastly, it equally emerged from the study that the respondents agreed (Mean=4.20) that increased number of libraries constructed through NG-CDF led to effective management of secondary schools. This implies that construction of more libraries through NG-CDF lead to effective management of secondary schools. This concurs with the work of Ubong [23] Kirui et al. [20] that the central government must also provide physical facilities such as libraries for effective management of secondary schools.

From the findings, it is concluded that NG-CDF influence management of secondary schools. This is because NG-CDF such as infrastructure development, social welfare and provision of teaching/learning materials lead to effective management of secondary schools. It is concluded that school infrastructure development such as increased number of classrooms, laboratories, dormitories and libraries constructed through NG-CDF lead to effective management of secondary schools. Additionally, it is concluded that school social welfare such as security improvement through NG-CDF employment of more security guards, increased number of BOM teachers employed, increased number of needy students benefiting from bursaries allocation and increased number of teachers motivated through NG-CDF lead to effective management of secondary schools. Lastly, it is concluded that provision of teaching/learning materials such as increased number of joint examinations organized, class textbooks, revision materials and teaching aids provided through NG-CDF lead to effective management of secondary schools.

Recommendation

Principals should be empowered more by the NG-CDF to do infrastructure in schools for better and improved academic performance in their respective schools. Moreover, to enhance effective management of secondary schools, infrastructure development, Social welfare and Teaching/Learning material through NG-CDF should be considered.

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