Abstract:
Kenya must invest more in education to realize her vision 2030. The government
commitment to Education for All’s goal has been expressed through provision of
basic education in pre-primary, primary and secondary school levels. To this end, the
government introduced two kitties; Free Primary Education in 2003 and Subsidized
Secondary Education in 2008 (where the government paid tuition fees for the students
in secondary schools), but left parents to finance Early Childhood Development and
Education. Since public centers were not well equipped, only the poor parents
enrolled their children. The study was carried out in Nyahururu District in 2010, to
assess the impacts of the two government kitties on public Early Childhood
Development and Education centers in Kenya. To evaluate the impact of the kitties on
the public Early Childhood Development and Education centers, private centers were
also studied together. The study revealed that while the kitties led to rising enrolment
in primary, secondary school and private Early Childhood Development and
Education centers, enrolment declined in public centers. The two have lowered the
quality of education in public Early Childhood Development and Education centers
since parents were unwilling to raise finances enough to employ and motivate
teachers, buy teaching/learning resources, school facilities and school feeding
program. High enrolment after Free Primary Education also took up classrooms meant
for Early Childhood Development and Education in public centers
