| dc.description.abstract | Sessional paper No. 1 of 2005 states that without a working partnership on financing
education, it will be hard to address the problems of inadequate access, inequity and
low quality in education. The financing mechanisms also send signals to respective
beneficiaries on their funds limitations. These limitations pose threats to the Technical
Industrial, Vocational Entrepreneurship and Training (TIVET) objective which focus
on provision and promotion of life long education and training for self reliance.
Science and Technology Education Training in Kenya national polytechnics is based
on this objective. Despite this, deterioration has been noted with the inception of cost
sharing policies. The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of cost-sharing
policy on Science and Technology Education and Training in Kenya national
polytechnics. Objectives of the study were to; determine the average unit cost of
educating a regular diploma student in Kenya national polytechnics; establish the
effects of cost-sharing policy on access of regular diploma students in Kenya national
Polytechnics; fmd out the effects of cost sharing policy on academic performance of
regular diploma students in Kenya national polytechnics and to establish the cost
sharing policy based challenges experienced by students, lecturers and the
administrators in the Kenya polytechnics. The study was based on production function
theory proposed by Wicksteed in 1884 and developed by Cobb and Douglas in 1928.
This model identified the possible outcomes which could be achieved with a given
combination of inputs. The study used Ex-post facto and descriptive survey research
designs. Study population was 2824 which comprised of 2808 regular diploma
students of Science and Technology Education Training, 12 lecturers and 4
administrators from the two national polytechnics. A sample size of 350 regular
diploma students was arrived at using a formula by Yamane. Simple random sampling
was used to sample the 350 students from. the population. Purposive sampling
technique was used to pick cases with required information. These were twelve heads.
of departments, two principals and two finance officers from the national
polytechnics. Data was collected using questionnaires, document analysis guides and
interview schedule. Face and content validity of the instruments was determined by
experts in the Department of Educational Management and Foundations by including
their suggestions. Reliability of the instruments was determined through test-retest.
Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the reliability
at p value of 0.05.The coefficient for lecturers questionnaire was 0.75, principals'
questionnaire 0.80 and finance officers 0.8. All instruments were therefore reliable.
Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of percentages,
means and frequency counts. Qualitative data was transcribed and categorized in
emergent themes. The findings of the study indicated the effects of cost sharing policy
on Science and Technology Education and training in Kenya national polytechnics
were that 69% of the students found their training cost unaffordable at Ksh. 545,256
and Kshs 664,653 for Kisumu and Eldoret respectively. There was a relatively low
enrolment rate for example in the department of Electrical and Electronics in Kisumu
polytechnic enrolment rate was at 8'.5%. The drop-out rates ranged from 4.9% to 6%
in Kisumu and EIdoret polytechnics. Performance index for Kisumu polytechnic was
59.8 and Eldoret polytechnic was at 63.1 out of 120. The major challenges were on
capacity for access, inadequate training and learning materials, unskilled lecturers and
inadequate quality assurance and standards guidance on curriculum implementation. | en_US |
