Factors Influencing Financing Of Information And Communication Technology Use In Public Secondary Schools In Busia District, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the factors influencing financing of information and communication technology use in public secondary schools in Busia District, Kenya. The objectives of the study were; to determine the influence of school enrolment, to examine the influence of government policy, to determine the influence of support from development partners and to establish the influence of parents’ socio- economic background on financing of information and communication technology use in public secondary schools. Four research questions were formulated to guide the study. The questions sought to establish the factors influencing financing of information and communication technology use in public secondary school in Kenya. The study was conducted in Busia District Secondary Schools using descriptive survey design. Data on financing of ICT use in secondary schools was collected from the principals, teachers and students using questionnaires, a document analysis guide and an observation schedule. The document analysis and the observation schedule were used to collect information to verify the data collected through the questionnaires. Reliability of the instruments was determined by piloting the instruments at Busiada Girls’ Secondary School in the neighbouring Butula District since it had similar characteristics with most of the Busia District Secondary Schools. Validity was enhanced by requesting experts in research methods to examine the instruments for content validity. The study sample included 17 Principals, 70 teachers and 541 students from form one to form four. Qualitative and quantitative data collected was analyzed and presented using tables of frequencies, percentages and figures. The study assumed that; Public secondary schools in Busia district face financing challenges in their bid to use ICT in management, teaching and learning activities; school enrolment, government policy, development partners and parents’ socio-economic background are the only factors that influence financing of ICT use in public secondary schools and that respondents gave objective and reliable information concerning financing of ICT use in their respective schools. Key findings revealed that; many schools do not have ICT facilities, the government had successfully financed three schools to provide ICT literacy skills to all students in the schools, the Government ICT policy had not been disseminated to schools; NGOs and private Companies had not sponsored teachers for training nor financed ICT facility acquisition in schools; many teachers had sponsored themselves to acquire ICT skills for use in schools; all parents supported ICT use in schools on request and school enrolment was not a challenge to schools. Based on the research findings the researcher made the following recommendations; that the government should finance schools to provide ICT facilities and provide a clear government ICT policy to all schools, Teachers Service Commission to recruit qualified ICT teachers in schools with the ICT facilities. Parents should be actively involved in financing of ICT use in schools. Based on the recommendations, further research is suggested on;, effectiveness of financing ICT in public secondary schools, factors influencing investment in use of ICT in private institutions, school based factors influencing effective government investment in use of ICT in public primary schools and replication of the same study elsewhere in the country for generalizations to be made with a lot of certainty.