Asian Journal of Economics, Finance and Management

This study examines how household financial resilience influenced school resumption in Kenya following the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on three dimensions: ability to manage daily needs, cope with shocks, and invest in the future. The analysis uses secondary, nationally representative data from the 2021 Financial Access Survey, covering 22,024 households, and applies a logit model to estimate the likelihood of school resumption. Marginal effects were calculated using the Delta-method to provide interpretable estimates of the size and direction of influence for each variable. The findings show that forward-looking financial capacity, particularly the ability to invest in the future, is strongly associated with higher school resumption rates, increasing the likelihood by 0.4% (p < 0.001). Conversely, households unable to withstand shocks, those living in poverty, and those with larger numbers of dependents were significantly less likely to send children back to school, with each of these factors reducing the likelihood by about 1%. The education level of the household head emerged as a positive and significant factor, while gender, age, marital status, and stated household priorities were not statistically significant predictors. Although the model’s explanatory power was modest (pseudo-R² = 0.057), its statistical robustness (χ² = 12,796.001, p < 0.001) confirms the reliability of these patterns. The study recommends embedding education financing within broader household financial resilience strategies. Key actions include promoting education-linked savings, expanding support for poor and large households, integrating education planning into community programs, and strengthening social protection. In addition, community-level interventions need to reinforce the value of education, even during economic shocks. Collectively, these measures would help reduce household vulnerability to crises and safeguard children’s right to uninterrupted learning.