Unpacking Financial Interventions Link to Student Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools: A Nyamira County Level Analysis, Kenya

The research was conducted to determine the impact of education funding on academic achievement with reference to Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) performance. The KCSE scores of Nyamira County, among others, have always been low, which begs the question of how well the public secondary schools in the area are performing. Based on the Theory of Performance by Elger (2000), the research was descriptive in nature and employed both qualitative and quantitative research designs. The population of 189 public secondary schools was sampled with a sample size of 127 which is based on the sample size determination table by Krejcie and Morgan (1970). The total number of respondents was 889, comprising of teachers, PTA members, principals and disciplinary masters in the identified schools. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data and SPSS software to analyze the data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used, as well as a multiple regression model (Y = β0 + β1X1 + ε) to determine the relationship between variables, where one-way ANOVA would be used to analyze them further. The results indicated that financial aid is very important in making sure that there are educational resources like text books, classrooms, libraries, and adequate teaching staff. Inadequate funding also led to shortage of supporting facilities and materials in certain schools, which adversely impacted on KCSE performance. The research suggests that policymakers should make reforms to make better resource distribution and better student performance, such as increasing government investment into secondary education, especially in regions where socioeconomic factors negatively affect student performance.