| dc.description.abstract | Access to education refers to the ways in which educational institutions and
policies ensure that students have equal and equitable opportunities to take full
advantage of their education. This study was to investigate the school based
factors influencing access to Early Childhood Care and Education in flood
prone areas of Kadibo Division, Kisumu East District, Kisumu County,
Kenya. Four objectives were formulated to guide the study. They were: to
establish the learners’ health factors influencing access, examine how the
damage of school infrastructure and displacement of teachers can influence
access and establish strategies that can be used by Early Childhood Care and
Education school communities in making ECCE more accessible in Kadibo
Division. The study was conducted using the descriptive survey method. The
target population of the study comprised of 42 head teachers, 97 teachers and
3680 learners. The sample for the study comprised of 10 head teachers, 30
teachers and 180 learners. Data was collected using questionnaires for the
head teachers and teachers and focus group discussion questions for the
learners. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data while
qualitative data was analyzed thematically according to the objectives. The
findings revealed that water borne diseases and nutrition were the learners’
health factors influencing access to Early Childhood Care and Education. The
damage of school infrastructure such as classrooms, toilets, playgrounds and
the teaching/learning materials greatly influenced the learners’ attendance and
participation. The displacement of teachers which was at 71%, caused teacher
absenteeism and had great influence on the learners’ enrolment, making it go
down by 81% percentage. The study established that there are just a few basic
strategies in place that can enhance access to Early Childhood Care and
Education in the division. The study concluded that during floods, learners’
access to ECCE is greatly affected and flood drills and early preparations are
some of the mechanisms needed to ensure enhanced access to ECCE in the
area. The recommendations made were: School management personnel should
engage qualified professionals in designing and construction of classrooms
and toilets to ensure their resilience in face of known disasters; schools should
develop and implement disaster management plans; the community leaders
should mobilize their members to participate in construction and maintenance
of trenches around the ECCE centers; Ministry of Education Science and
Technology should include disaster management in the ECCE teacher training
curriculum and also come up with lasting solutions on floods in order for
learning to go on without disruption; there is a need for mandatory school
feeding programmes in all ECCE schools. The study suggested further studies
in private ECCE centers in flood prone areas; a study on home based factors
influencing access to ECCE in flood prone areas; a study on flood Disaster
Risk Reduction in ECCE centers in the division and this study on school based
factors influencing access be replicated in other areas affected by floods in the
country. | en_US |
