| dc.description.abstract | Children without parents are not only among the most vulnerable members of society
but their care and protection also presents a major child care policy challenge due to
their high population which is increasing day by day (Tatek Abebe, 2009). Kenya is
home to over 2.6 million orphans with over 1,600 orphans being in Kwanza sub
county in Trans Nzoia County. According to the Kenya 2010 Constitution, all
children have basic rights and right to education is one of them. This study sought to
establish influence of different strategies of orphan care on retention of orphans in
primary schools in Kwanza Sub County, Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. Specifically,
the study sought to examine factors in Kinship, foster, community-based and
institutional care, which influence retention of orphans in primary schools. It’s
theoretical framework was based on two polarized theories of care ( Abebe and Aase
2007). The first theory is captured by the ‘social rupture thesis’, while the second
theory is grounded in ‘perspectives of social resilience’, The study used descriptive
design which employs various methods for data collection and analysis. Those used in
this research were Questionnaires, Interview guides, and observation. Secondary data
was obtained from school records. Both qualitative and quantitative research
approaches were used. The target population was orphaned children, both boys and
girls who are in ordinary day primary schools, both public and private, in class eight.
The study samples included 25 ordinary day primary schools with class eight, 56
orphans, 25 head teachers of all schools selected and 14 key informants. Simple
random sampling design was used to select schools from a list of all day ordinary
primary schools from the sub county. Purposive sampling design was used to select
only class eight and school heads. School admission records and class registers were
used to obtain the number of orphans in class eight in the schools, type of orphan care
and their attendance. The questionnaires were piloted in two public day primary
schools selected randomly from the list of schools. Both schools participating in the
pilot study did not take part in the final study. Data Analysis was done scientifically
using SPSS. descriptive statistics and chi-square were used. Its presentation was done
in chapter four using descriptive statistics which involved tables, frequencies and
percentages. The findings showed that Kinship care had the highest influence on
primary school with 59%retention, followed by foster care, 55%. Community based
care 53% and institutional care 51% It was expected that the findings would add
knowledge to research which would inform future decisions concerning orphan care
placement. | en_US |
