Who Benefits from Secondary Education Bursary Fund in Kenya?

This study examined the effectiveness of the Secondary Education Bursary Fund SEBF in enhancing equity in access to secondary school educational opportunities. The discussion is guided by Rawls’ theory of social justice as fairness (1971) upon which the concept of equity is grounded. The study is specifically influenced by the Difference Principle and the Criterion of Reciprocity on the basis of reasonable citizenship as espoused by Rawls. The Secondary Education Bursary Fund (SEBF) was established in 1994 by a presidential decree to help the socio-economically disadvantaged groups to access secondary education. The findings indicate that the bursary beneficiaries transcend all socio-economic boundaries and that the allocation mechanism did not, as was intended, effectively target bursary support to students from poor and vulnerable socio-economic groups. As a result, the fund has had little impact on equity in access to secondary education. There is therefore an urgent need to make necessary structural and management adjustments to the bursary fund to make it more responsive and selective to those in need of financial support. Of significance is adoption of management information systems to enable effective and efficient administration of the fund. The findings will inform management decisions geared towards revitalizing the fund as well as informing policy formulation and review and aid scholarly debate on issues of educational financial subsidies.