Analysis of Corruption Risky Areas in Public Secondary Schools in Nyandarua and Nakuru Counties in Kenya

Abstract

Citizens and stakeholders in education continue to express great concerns regarding the escalating cases of academic dishonesty, misappropriation and misuse of resources in education in the world and Kenya in particular. Corruption activities manifest themselves in all areas of education especially in teaching and learning processes, academic dishonesty, and utilization of educational resources as well as in the development of policies.The purpose of this study was to analyse the corruption risky areas in public secondary schools in Nyandarua and Nakuru Counties in Kenya. Specifically the study sought to establish the corruption risky areas in public secondary schools and compare the levels of corruption in public secondary schools in Nakuru and Nyandarua counties in Kenya. The study tested the null hypothesis that there is no statistically significant difference in corruption risky areas in public secondary schools in Nyandarua and Nakuru Counties. The descriptive survey research design was used to guide the study. The target population for the study comprised all secondary school principals, heads of departments and bursars. The sample size was determined using the Cochran sampling formula which yielded a total of 321 respondents. Data was collected using a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyse data with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Results of the study revealed thecorruption risky areas in public secondary schools as thecharging of extra levies, teachers missing lessons, unreported teachers absenteeism, falsification of information on student enrolment data and irregular procurement of goods and services. Hypothesis testing revealed that corruption risky areas in public secondary schools in Nakuru and Nyandarua Counties were largely similar, thus the null hypothesis (Ho1) was accepted. The study recommended the need to broaden the scope of school auditing to cover all areas of academic life as opposed to the current practice that only focuses majorly on financial management.