Effectiveness of government policy interventions towards enhanced access to pre-primary and primary education by street children in selected urban areas in North Rift, Kenya

Abstract

Many nations world over strive to achieve Education for All (EFA) for its citizens, a service considered to be the best building block for every society. Studies reveals that achievement of access to education by street children has been elusive in most countries. Kenyan Government has continued to foster development and implementation of policy interventions towards enhanced access to education by all children. Studies however reveal that notwithstanding heavy government funding on policy interventions, many street children are still out of school. The purpose of this study was to examine effectiveness of Government policy interventions towards enhanced access to pre-primary and primary education by street children as addressed by the following objectives: to examine policy interventions aimed at enhancing access to pre-primary and primary education by street children, and to evaluate the extent to which the Government policy interventions have enhanced access to pre- primary and primary education by street children. The study was informed by programme theory as proposed by Weiss and used Mixed Methods Research; concurrent triangulation design approach, and pragmatism philosophical paradigm. The study sample comprised of street children, County Directors of Education, Quality Assurance Officers, officers in the department of children welfare, teachers in public primary schools, Non-Governmental Organizations and Community-Based Organizations working with street children within the selected urban centers. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaires while qualitative data was collected through interviews and observation guides and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics and thematic analysis respectively. The analysis showed that majority of the teachers agreed that Government policy interventions had not effectively enhanced access to pre-primary and primary education by street children. Majority of the respondents felt that policy interventions were not adequate and that supervision of the implementation process needed to be enhanced. Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.711 was obtained which indicated that there was statistically significant relationship between Government policy interventions and access to pre-primary and primary education by street children. Anova test gave a p value = 0.773 indicating that there was no statistically significant mean difference between Government policy interventions and enrolment by street children in pre- primary and primary education. The study also revealed that roles of other stakeholders towards enhancing access to education by street children needed to be supported and synergies with Government interventions be strengthened. The study concluded that enhancing effectiveness of policy interventions, implementation process and informed support to vulnerable families to mitigate factors contributing to emergence of street children need to addressed in order to promote access to education by street children. The study recommended that Government should strengthen policy implementation and supervision framework and work on mitigating social challenges that contribute to children opting for street life.