| dc.description.abstract | The study examined the factors influencing community participation in the
development of preschool centres and education in Makueni County. The study
investigated the impact of economic status, Community literacy level and
community awareness towards the establishment and development of preschool
centres and programmes. The study investigated the headteachers, preschool
teachers, parents and preschool children in relation to their level of participation
and involvement in preschool development. It aimed at establishing whether
their economic status, levels of education and awareness of the importance of
early childhood education determined their ability and willingness to participate.
The sampled population comprised of 400 parents, 60 preschool teachers, 30
primary school headteachers, 600 pre scholars in 30 preschools. The study
adopted field survey design to investigate the influence of community
participation in the preschool development in Makueni County Kenya. The
research instruments used were questionnaires filled by headteachers to give
feedback from the preschools. Questionnaires were also distributed to pre-school
teachers. The researcher also used an interview guide for the parents. An
observation schedule was used to monitor physical facilities and children’s well
being. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The
findings show that majority of the parents did not have adequate education.
Education transforms enhances knowledge and empowers an individual.
Education enables a person to think and make rational decisions. The finding
show that most of parents had knowledge on education and only a few parents
had no educational awareness. The study recommends that parents should be
involved in assessment of pre-school programmes so that they can own them.
The government should invest heavily on industrialization for the creation of
more job opportunities to make education gain more value. Awareness meetings
and workshops should be carried out to increase parent’s participation in preschool
development and partnership policies. Further research should be carried
to map out the locally available resources in different quarters of the county to
help provide better ECD facilities and services. | en_US |
