Effects of Income Generating Activities on Perfomance in Public Secondary Schools in Imenti North Subcounty Meru County

Abstract

This research focused on the effects of income generating activities on the performance of public secondary schools in Imenti North Sub County, Meru County. Diverse research indicates that most schools experience financial stress. This hinders the attainment of the schools strategic objectives. The Ministry of Education allows schools to engage in school based income generating activities to bridge budgetary shortfalls. Some secondary schools engage in diverse income generating activities. The objective of the research was to examine the influence of crop farming, animal farming, hiring out school facilities and services based activities on performance of public secondary schools. Key indicators used to measure schools' performance were working capital ratio, asset growth, academic performance and enrollment per class. The population consisted of all the bursars in secondary schools in Imenti North Sub County. The research was a census where all the bursars were involved. The research employed a descriptive survey design. The design was suitable to answer the questions concerning performance of public secondary schools. The researcher employed self-administered questionnaires to collect data. The data was processed and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17. Descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression and multiple regression were used for analysis. The results were presented in summary reports and tables. Research findings were used to answer research questions and give recommendations on the significance of income generating activities on performance of public secondary schools. The research established that animal farming and hiring of school facilities had a significant effect on the performance of public schools in Imenti North Sub County while crop farming and offering of services were not. The research recommends that the ministry of Education needs to formulate a clear policy on income-generating activities or schools as well as motivate secondary schools that ran profitable IGAs. A similar research could be carried out in other Sub Counties to assess whether different findings may be reached.