Enhancing Equity to Higher Education via Educational Vouchers

Abstract

Dissatisfaction with the existing system of financing education has led to a number of suggestions for change, and perhaps the most prevalent of these changes has been the provision of vouchers for financing education. A voucher system exists when Government makes payments to families that enable their children to join public or private institutions of their choice. The purpose is to increase parental choice, efficiency and allow low income families access to education. This paper is based on the premise that there cannot be equity in higher education unless there is equity in access to secondary education. The financing of education in Kenya has been characterised by partnership between the Government and the beneficiaries of education. Due to poverty levels, there has been high dropout rates and non enrolment in secondary and tertiary levels. The Government introduced fee guidelines and bursary funds to enhance accessibility of the poor to education. However, the bursary scheme has not been effective and efficient in meeting its objective as expected. Inadequate financing to provide for all eligible and deserving needy students; structural weaknesses in administration systems as evidenced by delays in disbursement, non-remittance of bursary funds to some schools; and delays in communicating the awards to beneficiaries, among other factors, are noted as key challenges that have not been addressed even in CDF. Tuition free secondary education has not made things better. The secondary sub-sector continues to face challenges, particularly the low participation rates, unsatisfactory level of transition from primary to secondary and from secondary to tertiary levels as well as serious gender and regional disparities. The quality of secondary education also remains low. Policy documents indicate a target transition rate of 70 percent from primary to secondary schools by 2008, and with doubling of enrolments by 2010 and tripling by 2015. Such an ambitious target can only be met by devising an appropriate mechanism for financing secondary education in Kenya. Hence the suggestion for the introduction of a voucher system of financing education in Kenya secondary and tertiary education as this system has enhanced equity, efficiency, parental choice and quality of education in the countries that are using a voucher system of financing education