ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT POLICY OF THE YEAR 2006 IN SIAYA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The government of Kenya in the year 2006 enacted an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Policy Framework that pronounced itself on human resource management, physical facilities and other learning materials. The purpose of this study therefore was to assess the implementation of the ECD Policy of the year 2006 in Siaya County, Kenya. Five Specific objectives of the study were to: - find out amount of funds from varied sources that reached the ECDE centres, establish effect of received funds on the availability of physical facilities, find out effect of the received funds on the number of qualified teachers in ECDE centres, establish effect of received funds on the availability of teaching and learning (T/L) materials and explore the quality of services offered in ECDE centres in the period 2013 to 2015. The study was premised on human capital theory by Psacharopoulos & Woodhall (1985). The study’s research design was descriptive survey. The study population were head teachers of 679 ECDE centres. Key informants were from the office of the County Director of Education and County Chief Office for Education Department. Yamane, (1967) formula of n = N/1+N(e)2 was used to arrive at a sample of 252 Heads of ECDE centres. Stratified technique was then applied to proportionately select the sample based on the population distribution in the six sub-counties. Purposive sampling was used to pick an officer each from the CDE’s office and CCO’s office. Data was collected from head teachers of the ECDE centres using questionnaires while an interview schedule was used to collect data from Education Officers. A Pilot study was carried out to ensure reliability of the two data collection instruments through test-retest process. The average reliability Cronbach‘s alpha was 0.750 for Head teachers’ questionnaire which was acceptable. Validity of the instruments was assured through discussion with the supervisors. Data from the two instruments were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Quantitative analysis was done by the help of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Qualitative data was analysed descriptively. The study found that parents consistently funded slightly over 80% of ECDE centres at an amount less than Ksh 200,000 per year for the period 2013-2015, while National Government funded a few selected centres (36.7 percent) only in 2013 and 2014 at amount less than Ksh. 100,000 but disbursed no fund in 2015. County Government funds of Ksh. 300,000 were received by only 10 percent of the centres in 2015 but did not disburse any funds in 2013 and 2014. Generally, ECDE centres received insufficient funds per year in 2013-2015. Received funds were spent on maintenance of classrooms, kitchen and latrines, employment of teachers and purchase of T/L materials. Factors that significantly influence realization of quality services at ECDE centres include; funds from parents, availability of adequate classrooms, kitchens, latrines, lockable gates and trained teachers. The study recommended that the county government should adopt capitation model for free primary education in order to disburse funds to all ECDE centres without discrimination.