Parents’ perspective on top priorities of EFA given at the IAU Workshop on higher education for EFA held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 24-25 January 2013. Presented by Juliah Wanjiku Nduati, Communications Officer, Kenya National Association of Parent.

1. Presented by Juliah Wanjiku Nduati
c/o KNAP

2. Introduction
What is Kenya National Association of Parents (KNAP)
KNAP is a civil society organization in education sector
which has been in existence since 1999.
The organization has now been recognized legally under
Schedule III of the new Basic Education Act 2012.
Our KEY objective is to critically analyze all educational
policies in the country with a view of identifying the
missing gaps and in turn lobby the government either to
implement , ammend , shift or abandon a particular
policy.

3. Intro…
The organization has over 15ooo affiliate schools with
a countrywide membership of over 3.2 million
members.

4. Our priorities as KNAP
Our main concern as parents representatives revolves
around EFA goal 1 that focuses on expansion of early
childhood care and education.
THE CHALLENGES FACING EFA1 FROM PARENTS’
perspective
Inadequate funding- the government gives very little
amount of money to our ECD centers thus making parents
to continue funding the program from their own
resources.
Inadequate funding has seen the private sector capitalize
on ECD education and this compromises the quality
offered at the ECD centers.

5. The Challenges
Inadequate training of ECD teachers
We do not have full time teacher training colleges for
ECD teachers, Majority enroll in school based training
and this means their training is shallow.
Consequently, these implies that the ECD teachers
are not adequately prepared to handle ECD
curriculum
Curriculum… Even after EFA it took the
government more than 7 years until 2008 when it
developed a national curriculum for ECD .

6. Challenges cont…
The curriculum does not address the needs of young
learners , it does not shape the children but make
them appear like robots.
We need a curriculum that is addressing the needs of
the child
Uwezo research in 2010 supported this hypothesis
that the competency skills of children in ECD centers
is wanting.

7. Why Parents are concerned
Therefore, research is necessary to establish how
many teachers have the necessary skills, and this way
the parents will be assured that their young children
are attaining quality education.
The challenge of ECD teachers is that most do not
enroll in full time teacher training colleges.

8. Why cont…
As parents we would like researchers to look into
teacher training colleges.
The data collected can advise the government on how
to increase teacher training colleges and this will
ensure that ECD teachers are equipped with the
necessary skills to promote learning.

9. Expansion impossible if?
Concerning expansion of early childhood care and
education we cannot expand when over 2.3 million
children in ECD cannot access government granting.
Why? Education in Kenya is not free at all as parents
especially in pre-primary are required to pay high fees
for their children to be enrolled in ECD centers.

10. Cont…
Research shows that enrollment in primary is
approximately 110% while that of ECD is 60%.
 Why???
Most parents opt to keep their children at home until
they attain the age of joining primary schools.
The outcome here is obvious that parents are
enrolling illiterate children in primary schools since
they cannot afford the high fees in ECD centers.

11. Why we are lagging behind in
EFA goals
Apparently we lack clear laws to address the EFA goal
2 that seek to provide free and compulsory primary
education for all.
The reality on the ground is that parents are still
paying money for their children to achieve basic
education(basic education being; pre, primary and
secondary)
Perhaps now that we are in a discussion KNAP can
look at ways in which it can mobilize parents to
actively participate in the education of their children
(Illiteracy?)

12. Cont…

13. END, THANK YOU!
Juliah.nduati@gmail.com