The introduction of Free Primary Education (FPE) policy through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) in January 2003 in Kenya brought about overwhelming excitement among the public. The policy bore on poor families in particular who could now enroll their children having had no chance to learn due to lack of school fees. Implementation of the new policy directive however fall short of time for preparation resulting in various challenges among them, delayed disbursement of funds. This paper investigates the influence of time of disbursement of funds on the management of public schools by head teachers. The study focused on Uasin Gishu County adopting a cross-sectional survey design. The target population constituted all the 400 public primary school head teachers in Uasin Gishu County from which a sample of 200 respondents were selected using stratified random sampling technique. Questionnaires were used to collect data after which data was analysed using descriptive (frequencies and percentages) and inferential (Chi-square) statistics with tests done at 0.05 level of significance. The study found out that delay in disbursement of funds significantly influenced the management of schools by the head teachers. The study recommends timely disbursement of funds to schools to enable effective and efficient management
Keywords: Disbursement, Free Primary Education, Funds, Government Grants, Implementation
