DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2017.v05i08.037

Pages: 1078-1085

In Kenya, teachers employed under the Board of Management (BOM) receive monthly wages for the services rendered from the school. However, the government’s annual capitation grant of Ksh 12,870 that each student in public secondary school is entitled to does not include the wages for these teachers. In addition, schools are not allowed to charge parents extra fees besides the approved fees by the government. As a result, schools are forced to divert funds from teaching and learning materials, Boarding Equipment and Stores (BES), Repair, Maintenance and Improvement (RMI), Local Travel and Transport (LT&T), Electricity, Water and Conservancy (EWC), administrative costs, activity, Personal Emolument (PE) and the medical vote heads to cater for the wage bill of BOM teachers. This paper is anchored on the findings of a study that sought to establish the wage bill level of teachers under the BOM in public secondary schools in Gem Sub-County, Kenya. Using a descriptive survey design on a target population of 38 head teachers, 190 Heads of Departments and 214 BOM teachers, the study had a sample of 34 principals, 140 Heads of Departments and 194 BOM teachers obtained by saturation sampling. Data collection was done by document analysis guide and questionnaires for principals, heads of departments and BOM teachers. Scrutiny by research experts was done to establish the face validity of the instruments after which a pilot study was performed in 4 schools (not part of the sample) through test re-test method to establish the reliability co-efficient of the research instruments. Analysis of collected data was done by descriptive statistics. Qualitative data on the other hand was thematically analyzed. The study established that schools in Gem sub-county spent Ksh. 20,251,284 in 2013 and Ksh. 20,616,498 in 2014 on wages of BOM teachers.