The impact of professional athlete sponsorship on educational attainment in Western Kenya

This paper analyzes how a primary school affiliation with a professional athlete affects pupils' educational attainment on Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). Taking an advantage of a data set of 2010 KCPE scores for 80 primary schools in the Eldoret district, the study statistically illustrates a strong positive correlation between professional athlete sponsorship and educational attainment of pupils on all subject portions of the KCPE exam, except Kiswahili. The evidence presented in this paper highlights the impact of the athlete sponsorship on quality of education in Kenya.