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EXCERPTS
As enrolment continues to rise in primary and secondary schools, the reverse is happening in early childhood education centres.
In Kenya, like in most sub-Saharan Africa countries, early childhood care and learning bear the hallmark of an orphan compared to the rest of education sector.
Throughout the region, pre-primary education is characterised by low participation rates that on average stands at only six percent of the 0-5 years age group. In Kenya, the gross enrolment ratio in pre-primary education that stood at 40 percent prior to the introduction of free primary education now stands at less than 32.9.
According to Education ministry statistics, enrolment rose from 27,535 to 31,879 in 2004 then dropped by 2.1 per cent in 2006.
Parents, especially in rural areas and urban slums, send their children straight to free primary schools to escape fee-paying early childhood development centres. According to the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (Unesco), early childhood learning has nearly collapsed in some districts since the introduction of the free primary education.
"Parents argue that if the Government can make primary and secondary education free, they should do the same for pre-primary education," says Mrs Leah Rotich, the senior deputy director of the Education ministry's Early Childhood Development Department.
However, the crisis in the sector predates introduction of free primary education. A report by the Education ministry on the status of early childhood education reveals that major declines in pre-primary education occurred between 1998-1999. "Inequality in income distribution has resulted in low private enrolment in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools," says Dr Soo- Hyang Choi of Unesco's division of basic education.
"High dropout rates have been recorded in economically disadvantaged districts where parents bypass nursery schools and instead send their children directly to primary schools," says Ms Susan Nkinyangi, a senior education specialist in Unesco.
Consequently, the ability and willingness of communities to finance and manage preschools has been compromised by household poverty and inadequate teaching capacity.
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The structure of the system is also quite vague. There are seven early childhood services including nursery school, pre-unit class, kindergarten, day nursery, playgroup, Madrassa and home-based care centre. They all provide preschool services and often duplicate each other's functions.
Some centres offer half-day programmes running from 8am to 12 noon while others operate full day from 8am to 3pm.
This has resulted in wide variation in the quality of services provided by these institutions. Studies by various researchers indicate that access to preschool services is poor, especially among the low-income groups. Wide variations have been identified between centres in the level of physical facilities, teachers, supporting staff and activities.
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"There is lack of both policy and services for children up to three years of age," says a World Bank report on the status of preschool education in Kenya. The report notes that there is low public awareness of the importance of early childhood development. There are no linkages between preschools and primary schools, while the level of funding is too low to allow efficient programme implementation.
These are serious gaps, taking into account the role preschool programmes are expected to play towards children's holistic development.
Many stakeholders, especially illiterate parents, view pre-school programmes as 'early schooling.' Some teachers do not realize that their duty is not to teach specific learning skills and to stimulate and expand children's learning potential.
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Unfortunately most parents are focused on children getting 'real education.' "The scenario has ultimately pushed preschool centres into providing preparatory classes aimed at 7-8 year-old children," says Nkinyangi. Many preschools place emphasis on literacy and numeracy skills, instead of promoting children overall development.
Amid efforts to streamline early childhood learning in Kenya, experts have recommended that the Education ministry identify the label to be used to refer to early childhood development services. Although early childhood development is commonly used, other labels such as early childhood education, preschool education and early childhood development and education are still being used. "These labels create confusion not only in communication but in policy matters," says Unesco.
A similar conceptual clean up is required for service categorisation. Unesco suggests that nursery schools, kindergartens, day nurseries and playgroups could be put under one label of preschools. "Rationalising service categories will facilitate the development of access plans and identification of services and age groups that need support," says Unesco.
Clear and simpler categorisation of services would also be needed for the development of teacher training, inspection, monitoring and evaluation systems.
In a bid to prevent preschool education from collapsing, experts recommend that the Government provide one year of free early childhood development services. The one-year grace period could be used by the Government to explain to the parents the value preschools.
Most rural residents will continue to resist paying pre-school fees when primary education, which they consider 'real schooling', is free. Subsequently, the key issue is for the Government to draw a national framework embedded on legislation on how to promote early childhood education before it collapses. Kenya may have made progress in preschool education compared to many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but those gains are getting lost in the shadows of free primary education.
However, the success of ECDE strongly depends on the level and quality of training of the teachers.
Currently, one of the major setbacks has been lack of uniformity in the training ECD teachers. "Lack of harmonisation in teacher training and examination have contributed to low standards of learning in ECD centres. Different institutions use their own technique and materials for teaching. Some have not been evaluated, " says Nzomo.
The National Early Childhood Development Policy Framework of 2006 sought to address some of the problem.
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- reprinted from The Standard