Children participating in pre-school institutions have gained concern all over the globe. Preschool enrolment and participation has decreased all over the universe. The decrease in enrolment is evident in some regions such as Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. In the South, Central, and East Asia, children’s participation, rates in the pre-school are below the expected rates. For example, in Europe, the gross enrolment remains 80%, while Africa and the Middle East’s ratio remains low at 20%. According to UNESCO, on the participation rate of pre-school Education 2002/2003, the gross enrolment ratio on participation in most industrialized countries is above 80 percent, while the lowest in Africa and Middle East range is below 20 percent. Research conducted by Friedrich showed that pre-school enrolment has significantly declined in the former Soviet Union and Central Europe, among several other examples globally. Low enrollment rate values were also observed in Central, South, and East Asia, where most pre-school enrollment rates were below the required percentage. Studies show Fluctuation in enrolment is directly proportional to parental income. 

The majority of children fail to reach their potential in cognitive development [1]. Support this notion by stating that about 200 million young children globally do not get their cognitive development potential due to many interrelated factors. The concept of parent involvement in the enrollment of the children to school is an essential ingredient. However, the term ‘parent involvement’ has revolutionized over the last decades. Parent involvement is an undifferentiated approach that entails distinct behavioral characteristics from parents’ direct instruction in academics to the school’s governance. The understanding of this concept varies from one individual to another. Despite the need for parents’ participation in young children’s education, many nations worldwide have not fully embraced the idea [2]. 

In Kenya, the government emphasizes the enrollment of the children aged 3-6 to Kindergarten and pre-school education. Despite the Government of Kenya’s identification of the pre-school as a good start for the children’s development, it is minimally involved. Although the past Early Childhood Education programs focused on the children’s learning through play, the school's curriculum has incorporated various approaches. These methods include creating curricula and incorporating the daily routines for more significant educational learning.

Additionally, the Kenyan government has developed the Session Paper No. 1 of the Ministry of Education (2005), acknowledging the attainment of the E.F.A. by 2015 as a fundamental goal of the then ruling party, National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). This commitment was to be in line with the international declaration interventions and protocols developed in the World Conference of E.F.A. The Millennium Development Goals (M.D.G.s) were also under consideration for this strategy to be achieved. The same government came up with the District Centre for Early Childhood Education (DICECE) and National Centre for Childhood Education (NACECE) to facilitate the ECD program's coordination. However, these efforts are yet to bear fruits in the Kenyan rural areas and some urban regions. 

In 2003, the government introduced free pre-school education to increase basic education access, increasing the demand for teaching facilities. However, childhood education was not included in this provision and was financed by individual parents [3]. The parents felt the need for the government to offer free pre-school education as well. Therefore, many parents opted to withdraw their children from the school until they reached an age that allowed their admission in standard one, to avoid the cost of education at an early age. Parents must pay a levy to buy their children’s snacks, instructional materials, and pay the teachers. This withdrawal has left the public learning institutions in a poor state since it has translated into the parents’ non-participation in these centers’ development. Kenyan experts in teaching argue that the students who skip the pre-school education program have difficulties coping with other lessons at later academic life stages. Low-income families who lacked adequate finances to invest in their children’s education withdrew their support. According to, the probability for a child to attend childhood education results from the maximization of the family’s income.

The living individuals and their interactions define the makeup of a household. The word household refers to all occupants of a single residence, whether or whether they are connected by blood or marriage. A home is distinguished from the more comprehensive term family. One of the fundamental factors that may be attributed to the parents’ participation in pre-primary education is the household composition. This affects the socio-economic standards of the family. Living parents who take care of their grandparents have additional expenses, which affect their income. Moreover, the grandparents may also be a source of education to children hence parents may make assumptions that the children are learning in the traditional manner. Family composition also affects the child’s cognition since there is availability of children to play with an so the parents do not feel the urge to take their children to school to play since they believe it is what generally happens in pre-primary education. 

Parents who felt the need to equip their children with early childhood education opted for alternatives institutions. As a result, private ECDE schools mushroomed, beating the public schools in numbers in Bureti. Some of these institutions are small, and their shopping centers' location does not offer a proper learning environment for the children. The fact that they are small and managed by private dealers prevents them from fully solving enrollment in the region. In Kenya, researchers argue that combined efforts are required to promote early childhood education. A dialogue between professionals and parents is needed to drive a sense of purpose and propel education in the age group [4]. The parents are responsible for managing, developing, and planning early childhood programs. As a result, numerous problems, such as lack of program consistency and funding, are widespread. Lack of government involvement has led to the parents’ participation in ECDE enrollment [5]. 

Statement of the Problem 

Kenyan parents have not done enough to support ECDE as mandated act 84 of 2003. Parents have a role of providing guidance and monitoring their children's performance from the beginning. The cooperation of teachers and parents give young children a smooth transition from home to school. Teachers will teach in school while parents cater to the teachers' welfare. Therefore, it means that parents and teachers must collaborate to ensure that children get the best from their education.

However, several factors limit parents in engaging themselves in their children’s pre-school education. Mendez’s [6] on parents’ characteristics affect their participation in the pre-school education of their children. Teachers from various parts have complained about parents’ failure to participate in their children’s pre-school education. It is not clear how and why parents fail to help provide guidance and necessary help to their children. Some do not have a good relationship with teachers, education stakeholders, and children, making them involved in their children’s pre-school education.

One of the fundamental factors that may be attributed to the parents’ participation in pre-primary education is the household composition. The living individuals and their interactions define the makeup of a household. The word household refers to all occupants of a single residence, whether or whether they are connected by blood or marriage. This affects the socio-economic standards of the family. Living parents who take care of their grandparents have additional expenses, which affect their income. Moreover, the grandparents may also be a source of education to children hence parents may make assumptions that the children are learning in the traditional manner. Family composition also affects the child’s cognition since there is availability of children to play with an so the parents do not feel the urge to take their children to school to play since they believe it is what generally happens in pre-primary education. 

Literature Review

In India, most parents claim that they do not take children to school because they cannot afford to buy school uniform and notebooks. In Bangladesh, those who drop out come from lower income families. According to the Republic of Kenya, about 56% of Kenyan population living below the poverty line is unable to enroll their children in school due to both direct and indirect costs of schooling. KIPPRA, under the FPE and FDSE programs, parents and local communities continue to meet some educational expenses such as building costs, uniform, transport and food. When these costs are very high, both the family and the society may neglect the provision of education. Financial constraints are the main causes of children not enrolling or completing school especially in hunger stricken, ASAL and hardship areas. The issue of fees accelerates school absenteeism in schools. Children whose parents cannot afford fees go to school irregularly and in the long run drop out of school.

Parental income can be referred to as the money, which the parents of children receive after providing a good, or service. That is, salary or wages earned from a job. Apart from employment, parents can also receive income from other activities. It can be from business income, rental income, dividends, income from retirement benefits, or shareholder’s income from a closely held company. It is worth noting that the parental income of various people differs depending on the sources. Some people do not have formal employment, which means that they do not have any income. Under parental income, there are two other variables, namely socio-economic status, and family income.

Socio-economic status (S.E.S.) is a term that has been used by social scientists, economists, and sociologists to describe the class of a specific group or individuals. S.E.S. is measured through some factors, including education, occupation, and income. Notably, socio-economic status can either positively or negatively influence a person’s life. As stated, one of the pre-school factors that scientists use to measure the S.E.S. of an individual is education [7]. An individual’s level of education has a direct impact on how much one earns. Hence, higher levels of knowledge come with more opportunities, and this leads to higher making power. The other factor is income, described as the earnings of a person raging from salaries, wages, investments, and savings. 

Income can also be measured from the value of intangible assets that a person has and inherited wealth. The last factor is an occupation that is hard to estimate since it requires many competing scales. However, occupation status can be used to measure social position by considering a person's job characteristics, decision-making in the organization, psychological demands, and the ability to control day-to-day activities [7] In this case, there are prestigious occupations in society, such as lawyers, pilots, surgeons, professors, and engineers, and they are grouped high in the socio-economic status classification. Thus, analyses of the discussed factors usually classify people as low, middle, or high in S.E.S.

The measurements of the socio-economic status of people have a profound influence on one’s life. Firstly, there is physical health, whereby communities with higher S.E.S. have a better chance of assessing healthcare facilities and being treated. On the other hand, those with lower S.E.S. are faced with higher rates of obesity, infant mortality, and cardiovascular diseases. There is also mental health, where communities with low S.E.S. are depressed, abuse drugs, and commit suicide [7]. The other problem is the general welfare. Tropical socio-economic status influences higher rates of poverty, crime, and no education. Therefore, the S.E.S. determines the way people in a specific area live and run their day-to-day activities. 

Family income refers to all the family members' pay in the same household applied against the current family size. Family income can only be calculated from people related by birth, adoption, or marriage. In two-parent families where both are earning, the family income is higher. However, in the case of one parent or divorce’s death, the family income tends to reduce. Besides, one factor that affects family income is family size. When parents have many children, such as five, all the children leading to fewer benefits shared their revenue. If the same family has two children, it will fare better financially than the former. Therefore, since the family income influences the family, it affects pre-school education going, children.

According to Perry, parental income is one of the significant influences of whether pre-school education going children participate in education or not. It can be practically supported by children from the rural poor and slums rate of going to school. These families have low parental incomes, which are lower family incomes and socio-economic statuses. Most of these families disregard education and see no need to take their children to pre-schools [8]. Instead, they enroll them in religious centers to be taught about religion and be provided with food. Apart from that, other families allow their children to be involved in domestic and wage labor to supplement the family income. Based on the literature, children from families with higher parental income get the best opportunities to participate in pre-school education. On the other hand, low parental income hinders children from participating in this essential stage of education.

Parental occupation is the main work that a parent or guardian does to provide for their family. Notably, a person may have more than one job; but the main one is usually considered. The type of occupation that one gets involved in usually depends mainly on the level of education. Highly literate people secure lucrative jobs while those that have achieved lower levels of education do the rest. The more lucrative the occupation, the higher the income, and the vice versa is also accurate. The concerns to be debated in this chapter include how parental employment, the mode of work, and the mother’s salary/ wages influence pre-school children’s school attendance [9].

According to past studies, a parent’s occupation affects the school attendance of pre-school education children. One of the concerns to reflect on here is that one lives in a community depending on the type of work he or she does. In case one has a horrible job, he or she will earn meager salaries and wages and can only afford to live in informal resident areas such as slums. Such places have limited opportunities and school facilities. For instance, low buildings characterize the schools, lack of ventilation in classrooms, inadequate sanitation, inadequate learning materials, and poor sanitation. Therefore, children that settle within these areas are less likely to attend school. Nonetheless, when one has a better job, they receive a higher income, providing them with the opportunity to live formal settlements. The education facilities within these regions are better, influencing a child to participate in the pre-school education stage.

In addition, when parents have a good job, they are being well paid, which influences the need to provide quality education. They search for pre-school institutions, which they believe that it will lay a proper foundation for learning. They think that their children should have the best knowledge so that they stand a chance to secure good jobs in the future. On the contrary, parents working in low paying jobs can either choose to enroll their kids in schools or not. If they do, they are usually less interested and do not mind their children’s education quality. They rarely monitor their children’s school attendance because their primary objective is to meet the basic wants such as food, clothing, and shelter. With such an attitude, the children are less interested in attending school. 

Additionally, the employment model impacts the amount of income a family expects to receive, influencing school attendance. One of the most common modes is full-time employment. A professional employee must be engaged in the workplace for a minimum of 36 hours a week (“14. Modes of employment - University of Southern Queensland”, 2018). It means that he or she is there for a fixed term. The other mode is fractional employment, where one works part of the full-time job.

Nevertheless, a fractional employee may receive the entitlements of a full-time employee proportionally. In addition, there is part-time employment where an organization involves the worker for a few hours a week than a full-time job. The hours for work are usually 1 to 34 hours (“14. Modes of employment - University of Southern Queensland”, 2018). Lastly, there is sessional employment where an individual is employed for a minimum of 32 weeks per year. During those weeks, one is expected to work for 18 hours every week. One is usually paid at an hourly rate of a full-time employee.

The modes of employment, as mentioned above, influence the school attendance of pre-school education children. A parent in a full-time job type tends to have a higher and more consistent income than the rest. Hence, he can comfortably pay for his or her children’s fees in quality schools without the fear that money may lack in the future (“14. Modes of employment - University of Southern Queensland”, 2018). Besides, the one employed in a fractional employment occupation works fewer hours. The benefits that even they are entitled to be a proportion of what the full-time employee receives. Therefore, even though the parent wants his children to attend quality pre-schools, lesser income can pose a challenge. The same applies to a part-time worker. The last mode of employment is one that poses more problems than the rest. The time of jobs per year is less the minimum is 32 weeks. It means the occupation offers income seasonally. As a result, a parent in such an employment mode cannot provide quality education for his or her child consistently since money is only available in a particular period of the year. It is correct to say that the parental mode of employment influences a child’s school attendance.

Howe (2005) asserts that both the teacher and the parents are interested in the child in mind. Parents working within the home have a positive impact on their children’s and participation in schools. They are improving income on their enrolment. These parents help their children develop because they extend learning outside the classroom and many other school activities, making them enjoy going to school.

The same parents working within the home have time to visit the children’s school and have a better sense of their children’s competence and which areas to work on to improve their children’s confidence and ability. According to Llamas and Autozone, parents become comfortable with the education system, requiring their involvement in school activities. Therefore, Parents who work far from home may be disadvantaged because they may have little touch with their children’s teachers. They are not there to understand when the arising sister goes on in school to prompt.

Cheserek and Mugalavai [4] assert that early childhood development, especially during the first three years of life, creates grounds for a healthy and prosperous experience in subsequent stages. The more affluent parents in society can get their children a costly school where all or most learning materials, most qualified teachers are available hence their children being retained in school and the enrollment rate is likely to be high. Parents with inadequate finances may not be able to get their children to the right school may also not have time to check their children’s work as they may arrive home very late and too tired to offer any assistance to their children.

According to Cheserek and Mugalavai [4], promoting children’s education lies with the state, social organization, charitable and religious organization, and the Non-Governmental Organization plays an essential role in financing ECDE. However, the current situation has left most funding to parents’ hands, most of whom are poor and thus find the program too costly. Therefore, they keep their children at home waiting to join a class once they are at 6years of age, lowering access, and subsequent enrollment to pre-school. Unlike pre-school education, pre-school education services, and fee-paying and burden on poor parents who are expected to contribute to building facilities, payment of teachers’ salaries, and management of pre-school [10]. Little or no financial support comes from other sources, for instance, the government. In some cases, hunger prevents children from attending pre-school education, even when their fees have been paid. Usually, parents living below the poverty line do not enroll their children in pre-school education because of failure to provide basic requirements like school bags, books, pencils, rubbers, sharpener, and other learning.

Education levels are the stages or subdivisions of formal learning. The current system followed in Kenya is similar to that of the United States. The current levels of education in the country are four. Firstly, pre-school education is offered to children between the age of three and six. It is a crucial phase of learning since it is used to prepare children for pre-school education (Levels of Education in Kenya). The focus area is the child’s total development, and it concentrates on nutrition, health, and pre-school education. In addition, children are in this stage to develop physically, spiritually, mentally, and socially.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2016), it observed that mothers and fathers having higher levels of schooling record less satisfaction with school strategies than parents having lesser levels of schooling, indicating that more highly schooled mothers and fathers feel more at ease criticizing the institution. observed that mothers and fathers who view themselves as educators and feel beneficial in assisting their children at school are more inclined to be engaged. Parents ‘perspective in their purpose as teacher and their level of comfort interacting with instructors and assisting their children with class work may, partly, be a consequence of their own academic experience. 

Numerous studies propose that socioeconomic status (SES), of which parental schooling is an element, is a risk factor for parental involvement. (Alexander and Entwisle demonstrated that a discrepancy in school preparedness (for example, intellectual abilities, attitudinal anticipations, and investment in school) is present among children coming from low- as opposed to high-SES families as early as first grade. The difference in accomplishment between these 2 categories carries on broadening as the years‘19 advance. Despite the fact that most scientific studies of SES mix income, occupation, as well as educational level, there is certainly growing acknowledgement of the need to examine these variables separately. 

These studies indicate that reduced parental schooling is related to reduced degrees of effective participation in many domains, although not associated with the standard of the parent-teacher association or the parent‘s validation of the institution. Conceivably, being better schooled allows for parental understanding of the value of directly boosting their children‘s schooling. Furthermore, less schooled mothers and fathers might have had life (as well as school) encounters inducing them to feel significantly less capable of being deeply involved with their child‘s school. They could believe that they are deprived of the required capabilities to assist their children or that they must not hinder the school‘s authority. UNESCO indicated that illiteracy level is very high in Kenya and Africa at large where 142 million adults are illiterate. This has negatively influenced access to education programs especially the E.C.E.

There are parents who have had horrible experiences in school thus; they are not great advocates for their children to attend school. Children whose parents have low levels or no education tend not to go to school since their parents do not see the benefit of school to their children. Koech did a study in Uasin Gishu, which showed that parents with no education certificate and those with college diploma differed significantly in their level of involvement in preschool activities. The study showed that parents with low level of education felt inept in their contribution to parent-school partnership modes than parents with higher education.

The next level is pre-school education, which is regarded as the first phase of the formal 8-4-4 system. The children enrolled in this stage of learning are those aged between six and fourteen. The total period for pre-school education is eight years. Children at this level of knowledge learn about the social, political, and economic issues, which will, later on, help them to participate in the well-being of the nation. The subjects learned through the eight years are Mathematics, English, Sciences, Kiswahili, and Social Studies (“Levels of Education in Kenya,” n.d.). Through learning these subjects, the students develop various skills such as self-reliance, self-discipline, and self-expression. It is worth noting that the students sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education at the end of standard eight, whose results are used for placement in the secondary schools.

The education level of a parent has been discussed as one of the variables used to measure an individual’s socio-economic status. Thus, parents' education level directly affects a child’s participation in pre-school because parents are always in an excellent position to act as second teachers. In this scenario, children from families with highly educated members have a higher chance of following those footsteps. They would want to be associated with their parents’ education and even aim to achieve higher. Besides children following their parent’s steps, enlightened parents are aware of the way education supports development. As a result, they act as role models to their children and would not wish them to stay home. Their complete regard for education influences their children to participate in this development stage, while the low literacy level parents do not act as crucial role models. 

Furthermore, parents who have attained higher education levels have high socio-economic statuses than their colleagues who are not learned. They are mostly wealthy, which means that they can fund their children’s education easier than the latter [11]. Most of them take their children to private schools, which are well established. They have many choices, and they consider many factors, such as the school’s comfortability, the rate of socialization, and child-friendliness. Most of the children are even escorted to school and taken back home. When a child experiences are such, they was happy and willing to participate in school.

In addition, parents who have attended high education levels know how they benefited and can provide means for their children to be satisfied. For instance, they provide adequate care for their needs and are ready to pay any fees to the schools as long as their children benefit. They pay for the school fees on time and gladly participate in feeding programs fund. Besides, they are cooperative with the school rules and attend school meetings. They even go ahead to promote their children’s talents by paying them to get involved in extracurricular activities such as swimming, table tennis, playing musical instruments, and skating. The parent’s efforts in ensuring that their children benefit from education enhance school attendance by their children.

An example is that if a child knows that they will enjoy meals and other school activities, one yearns to go to school every day. In contrast, a pre-school dropout has benefited less from education and will probably not care whether their child enjoys going to school. The low literate parent is likely to delay school fees and may not attend school meetings. Besides, they may fail to invest in their children’s talents, citing it as a waste of money and resources. Consequently, a child will not enjoy going to school, leading to lesser participation in school education.

There is also social-cultural issues affecting the society, especially among the uneducated and low-literate parents. According to some of the communities, going to school is not essential, especially among the female. Such parents fail to provide the opportunity to take their children to school. In addition, there have been scenarios where parents have prevented their children from going to school to avoid polio immunization. The other issue is about how children emulate their parents. If the parents are uneducated, the children will also not appreciate the education. That being said, it can be concluded that high literate parents value education and want their children to go to school. However, parents that have attained lower levels are less concerned, and they even discourage their children from going to school. Hence, the pre-school education of these latter parents will not participate in education.

According to Koech, the level of parent’s education determines how much they value education. Parents of low academic achievement do not appreciate knowledge much and are unlikely to encourage their children to remain in school. Unlike parents of high academic achievement who take education as an investment and thus do all they can to retain their children in school. Parental education has been identified as the most vital factor that correlates to children’s success in school, the number of years, and their success in life. He further suggested that more highly educated parents encourage their children to develop a high expectation of their own asserts that children whose parents had pre-school education or less level more than three times as likely to have low test scores or grade repetition than children whose parents had at least secondary schooling. Koech noted that less educated parents may not be able to read and assist their children with homework and may not mean that they have no interest in their children’s work.

A household can be defined as a residential unit with one or more people who make standard provision to provide different essentials for living. A family does not necessarily mean that the people there are related. It is a socio-economic unit where if the more significant percentage of people is working, they tend to live farther financially. However, if the dependents are more, the socio-economic status becomes low. Thus, below is a discussion of various household issues, such as the type of families, number of children and family size, and how they influence children’s school attendance.

The size and stability of the family can influence access and academic enrolment of ECE children. Large and unstable families influence access and academic enrolment negatively while 21 small and a stable family positively influences learning achievement. Large families are associated with poverty where parents have many children and low income. This makes the parents engage their children in child labor and deny them access to education programs leading to poor performance. Large families are also with socio-economic disadvantage, probably less intensive interaction and less communication between parents and their children. Large families therefore limit parental involvement in the academic welfare of each child and this may lead to low participation even at the lowest level of education.

In Norway where majority of parents have a small number of children, access to ECE stands at 98%. In Benin 83% of children who did not attend, preschool came from families with over seven siblings. In Norway and Denmark, the central government plays a central role in provision of ECE. The central government provides funding in grants while municipalities are responsible for implementation. Access to ECE is therefore high in these countries as their economies are able to provide social amenities to its population including basic education.

Firstly, the types of families in household composition determine how children attend school. The main types of families include nuclear, extended, single parent. The nuclear family is the most common as it consists of both parents and children. In such a family, if both parents are working, it is easier for them to participate in education. There is a single parent family where only one parent is in charge of taking care of the children. Such a family may be faced by various challenges involving finances causing children not to attend pre-school education. Apart from that, there are extended families where everyone lives in the same place. That is, the grandparents, uncles, aunties, and cousins. In case the whole family depends on one person for survival, the financial resources was strained.

In cases where the children live with their grandparents, they fail to be enrolled in school since they are told to take care of their grandparents, as they are too old to take care of themselves. There are those grandparents or relatives who will exploit the children by making them do house hold chores for them this denies these children access to education especially if they are orphans or are children of single parents. Numerous cases of child abuse such as physical and sexual abuse have been rampant with huge family sizes since there are people who take advantage of these children. They hence do not attend school for fear of victimization or due to depression and self-pity of why this was done to them.

The study adopted descriptive survey research design in identifying the sample size of 170 participants. According to Kothari [12], descriptive survey designs are used in preliminary and exploratory investigations so that researchers may collect, synthesize, present, and evaluate data for the aim of elucidation. In this research, descriptive survey methodology is acceptable since it is the most efficient way for social scientists and other educators to gather original data for the goal of characterizing a population that is too vast to observe firsthand. Questionnaire, interview schedules and document analysis guide were employed in data collection. Descriptive statistic was used to analyze data. The study findings would be help to policy makers in the education sector and particularly of urgency to key stakeholders like government, parents, teachers, and even scholars.

The study results indicated that 90.4% Mean = 4.52were of the view that parents in their school have moderate income, 90.2% Mean = 4.51 were of the view that parents in their school have high income, 89.6% Mean = 4.48 were of the view that parents in the school have high income, 85.6% Mean = 4.28 were of the view that parents in their school pay the pre-school school levies comfortably while 88.4% Mean = 4.42 were of the view that parents in the school regularly pay school fees for the children.

The study findings revealed that 76.0% mean = 3.80 were of the view that parents in the school have high academic achievement and therefore assist children with homework after school, 75.8% mean = 3.79 were of the view that parents in the school have moderate academic achievement and therefore go through the exercise books of children after school, 80.8% mean = 4.04 were of the view that parents in the school have low academic achievement and therefore and understand most of the content covered in pre-school, 78.6% mean = 3.93 were of the view that parents have no formal education and therefore do not help the child in writing activities, 82.6% mean = 4.18) were of the view that parents have no formal education and therefore do not help the child in telling stories in English, 80.0% mean = 4.00 were of the view that parents have no formal education and therefore do not give some quizzes to the child on content covered in pre-school.

The study results on the influence of household composition on participation of pre-school education revealed that 80.0% mean = 4.00 were of the view that most of the parents in the school have large household composition, 71.0% mean = 3.55 were of the view that most of the parents in the school have moderate household composition, 71.0% mean = 3.55 were of the view that most of the parents in the school have small household composition, while 85.6% mean = 4.28 were of the view that the level of household composition is the main determinant of participation of pre-school education.

The study results on indicators of participation of pre-school education revealed that 90.4% mean = 4.52 were of the view that participation of pre-school education hit the target, 89.8% mean = 4.49 were of the view that enrolment levels set by the ministry were realistic and achievable, 90.4% mean = 4.52 were of the view that the county realized significant increase in enrolment levels in pre-school whereas 85.6% mean = 4.28 were of the view that there was an improved enrolment in pre-school in the year.

Table 1: Parents Level of Income on Enrolment in Pre-School

Table 2: Parents Level of Education on Enrolment in Pre-School

Table 3: Household Composition on Enrolment in Pre-School

Table 4: Participation of Pre-School Education

Parents’ level of income enhances participation of pre-school education due to simplification of clearance, reduced cases of diversion and improved compliance. Children from low income families become victims of diseases, physical and mental disabilities and homelessness due to environmental factors than children from well up families. Their access to pre-school is therefore hindered as the socio-economic background of the family sets the roadmap to academic achievements.

Participation of pre-school education largely depends on the level of education of the parents. Educated parents will be a role model to their children and will cultivate a positive attitude towards school in their children from an early age. 

The level of household composition is the main determinant of participation of pre-school education. The number of children in the household or the household composition may also influence access where children from large families being disadvantaged. 

Recommendations

The education stakeholders enforce the children act and the Basic Education Act (2013) and prosecute those who do not send their children to school once it has made free and compulsory and thus cot on the burden of schooling based on finance. 

The study recommended that civic education should be done to sensitize parents on the importance of ECDE since the parents’ education level was found to be a factor influencing enrolment. This will enable the parents to see the importance of ECDE and enroll their children to school as well as meeting the indirect costs of education for example buying school uniform. The Central government should enforce the children act and the Basic Education Act (2013) and prosecute those who do not send their children to school once it has made free and compulsory.

Adult education should be intensified especially in the rural areas to reduce the problem of Low level of education by the parents as well as encouraging them have manageable household compositions as large household compositions have been found to negatively affect enrolment in ECE as well as other levels of education.

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