Abstract:
In 2008, the Kenyan government introduced Tuition Free Secondary Education (TFSE) order to improve access, transition, retention and realized vision 2030. With Free Primary Education, demand for secondary education places increased. This resulted into establishment of several day secondary schools and expansion of existing ones. Consequently, schools had to contend with increased enrolment, inadequate finances, misconception of the term “free” or “affordable” and shortage of teachers to implement the policy. This research therefore sought to examine the influence of selected challenges facing school administrators on effective implementation of tuition-free secondary education in Imenti South District day secondary schools, Meru County. Descriptive survey design was employed in this study. A sample of 29 public day secondary schools was purposefiilly selected for this study on the basis of them having all the four classes (Fonn one to four) and also because they receive their fimding from the govemment of Kenya. All Principals and their Deputies were purposefully selected since they are directly involved with implementation of TFSE policy. Two Heads of Department (I-loDs’) from each of the sampled schools were randomly selected for the study (2 x 29 = 58) since they are mainly concerned with academic division and assist the principal in managing TFSE. Two questionnaires, Principals Questionnaire (PQ) and Head of Departments Questionnaire (HoDsQ) were used to collect information from school administrators. Content and construct validities were established by use of research experts’ advice drawn fi'om Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Management (CIEM) department. The reliability coefiicient of the tools was estimated using the split- halve method and was estimated to be 0.712 and 0.780 respectively. Data was analyzed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. The study revealed the main administrative challenges influencing effective implementation of TFSE as shortage of teachers to match the rising number of schools and increased enrolment; main academic challenges were increased student enrolment, inadequate teaching/leaming
