Influence Of County Government Financing On Access To Pre-Primary Education In Baringo Central Sub-County, Baringo County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of county government financing on access to pre-primary education in Baringo Central Sub-County. The study was guided by the following objectives; to establish the influence of county government financing of physical facilities on access to pre-primary education, to examine the influence of County government financing of teaching and learning materials on access to pre-primary education and to determine the influence of county government financing of teachers recruitment on access to pre-primary education. The study was heavily borrowed from the concepts of human capital theory whose proponents were Schultz (1961) and Becker (1964). The theory asserts that education is an investment aiming to obtain greater income or returns in the future. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The target population included One hundred and twenty four (124) head teachers, One hundred and twenty four (124) ECDE teachers, One hundred and twenty four (124) PA representatives, One (1) ECDE Sub county Co-ordinator Officer and One District education Officer in Baringo Central Sub-county. Questionnaires and interview schedules were administered to respondents. Questionnaires were designed to collect data from head teachers and teachers. The dully filled questionnaires were coded; data entry and data analysis for descriptive statistics and inferential statistics was computed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) for this study. The main findings and results of the study there is a statistically significant relationship between the teachers’ recruitments, teaching and learning materials, physical facilities influence on access of pre-primary education in Baringo central Sub County, (P<0.05). The study conclude that county government financing of physical facilities, teaching and learning facilities and ECDE teachers recruitment has generally enhanced the access to pre-primary education in Baringo central sub-county, Baringo county. The study further concludes that Non- governmental Organization (NGOs) also plays a vital role in providing the teaching and learning equipments in various ECDE centres within the Sub County. The study concludes that county government financing on access to pre-primary education in Baringo central sub-county is faced with a number of challenges. Some of the challenges noted include; inadequate allocation of funds by county government to ECDE education, poor budgeting techniques, lack of interest in education matters and corruption in allocation of funds. The study recommends that parents incur more cost on ECDE education level than primary education level. This is as a result of spending on school uniforms, paying ECDE B.O.M teachers and other entry fees. In order to give chance to many children to enroll in ECDE centers, there is need for county government to subsidize ECDE education more than primary education. The study also recommends that the amount of money disbursed by county government to build physical facilities, teaching and learning materials and in recruiting ECDE teachers is not enough. In order to minimize the burden of county government and parents supporting most activities in pre-primary schools, schools should have various incomes generating activities. This will generate more funds to support the county government educational subsidies. The study recommends that County government channel meagre amount towards ECDE sector in the county budgetary allocation according to the ECDE Sub-County co-coordinators. The study therefore recommends that the county governments should develop a public-private partnership policy framework in education sector to engage corporate and business organizations to be involved in pre-primary education in the county. The policy framework should provide incentives for businesses and corporate such as tax breaks and reliefs. This will cushion county government educational subsidies leading to more enrolment in pre-primary level of education. The study suggests that there is need to conduct a study of this nature in wider areas for instance covering the whole of the Baringo County or other Counties. The study suggests a similar study to be carried out in public day secondary schools in Baringo Central Sub County to establish influence of County governance financing on access to public day secondary education.