Impact of parents' income on children's participation in Early Chilhood Education in Kabati division, Kauwi sub location, Kitui district
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Date
2011Author
Ndundu, Grace M
Type
ThesisLanguage
en_USMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Poverty has been a major cause of poor participation of Early Childhood Education programmes. This study therefore sets to investigate the impact of parents' low income in children's participation in pre-school education in Kabati Division, Kauwi sublocation Kitui District. The objectives guiding the study includes; to find out the participation rate of preschool children in ECDE programmes, to investigate the 'participation rate of children from high income families, to establish the participation of children from single families and to find out participation rate of children who have both parents in ECDE programmes.
The study used a descriptive survey design in methodology. Target population includes; pupils in pre-school, their parents, headteachers and teachers in the sampled pre-schools in the division who helped to establish impact of parents' income in children's participation in early childhood education. The study used random sampling to come up with sample units of five public pre-schools and five private pre-schools, ninety children, eighty parents and ten headteachers. Research instruments to be used to collect data include; questionnaire, interview guide, and observation schedule.
Descriptive statistics such as percentages, graphs and tables was with the help of laptop to describe population characteristics. The results of this study are expected to raise awareness among the government, community, researchers and parents on the impact of parents' income on children's participation in Early Childhood Education. It was clear that parents participation in private pre-schools was considerably good evidence from availability of physical facilities, good children well being and fair remuneration of teachers while in public pre-schools, parents participation was lesser (60%) leading to inadequate physical facilities and poor remuneration of teachers. It was also observed that all private schools had feeding programmes as parents are ready to participate in ECDE.
Feeding also calls as a substitute for balanced feeding (proper nutrition) which is crucial in children's growth and development. In public pre-school feeding programme was present in only two pre-schools (40%) thus children are not likely to consume proper nutrition as a substitute for energy bearing in mind that play is children's work which they often engage in. the low participation could be as a result of most parents (68%) having being low income earners hence cannot afford to pay extra for children feeding an indication that even affording a balanced meal a day is difficult. It was also evident that married parents (67%) participated better in ECDE programmes compared to 43% who were single. This is probably because of the combined input of both parents which led to their ability to participate in ECDE. Most parents on the other hand had gained O-level education that they were literate; however their participation is not satisfactory probably because they were not aware of the importance of children formative years in ECDE.
Publisher
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Collections
- Faculty of Education (FEd) [5962]