The Republic of Kenya (Swahili: Jamhuri ya Kenya) is an East African country with a population of more than 47.6 million people, comprising 23,548,100 males and 24,014,700 females, including an estimated 12.6 million children aged 0–8 years.
The first early childhood education centres were established in the 1940s by missionaries and colonial administrators for their children, and they were racially segregated. The first preschools were established in urban areas to serve European and Asian children. These preschools were modelled after English crèches, infant schools and kindergartens and were initially run by expatriate teachers. The daycare centres for African children from the age of 2 years were established from the 1950s in the agricultural plantations by the plantation owners to provide custodial care while the mothers worked (Kabiru, 2023). Caregivers would teach children games, songs and dances. Later, some centres were started in the African residential areas in the towns by the local authorities to meet nutritional and medical care needs for poor children. The first preschool in Kenya established by the Kenyan government was the Thomas Barnabas along Langata Road during the independence period. After independence in 1963, there was a rapid expansion of preschool centres, and the first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, popularized the Harambee motto. Harambee means ‘pulling and pushing together’. It encompasses the principles of community initiatives based on joint efforts, mutual assistance, social responsibility and community self-reliance. Even at independence, people were hungry for education. They were convinced of the importance of preschool education and expected that preschools would prepare their children for a highly competitive education system (Kabiru, 2023). For many years, early childhood education remained at the community level until 2010, when the current Kenya Constitution devolved early education to counties (Government of Kenya, 2010). The competency-based curriculum (CBC) recognizes early childhood development and education (ECDE) as the basic formal education level (Republic of Kenya, 2022).
ECDE is a holistic approach towards meeting the education and other development needs of children to ensure that their full potential is realized (Republic of Kenya, 2022). According to Act 2022, children in Kenya are required to join ECDE centres at the age of 4 years. This is at the level of Pre-Primary 1 (age of 4 years). They then proceed to Level 2, otherwise known as Pre-Primary 2 (age of 5 years). However, some private institutions enrol some children at the age of 3 years to join an informal setup known as a ‘Playgroup’. Children at the playgroup level participate in preschool activities to prepare them for school activities. Approximately 2.4 million children enrol in public ECDE centres, and 900,000 children enrol in private ECDE centres. It is estimated that 3.3 million children out of 5.6 million are enrolled in ECDE centres (58.9%).
Kenya has three forms of ECDE provisions: 1) public ECDE centres (located within a primary school or in the neighbourhood), 2) private ECDE centres (located in religious institutions, such as mosques and churches) and 3) those in private institutions/ organizations or neighbourhoods. Daycare centres (playgroups) are owned by private entities that take care of three-year-olds and below. Public ECDE centres are more popular than private ECDE centres (Republic of Kenya, 2022).
Access to ECDE is often costly for families, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and/or rural areas. While public ECDE centres are supposed to provide free education, there are often additional costs that can be a financial burden for families. These costs may include registration fees, uniform costs and other expenses, such as books, stationery, learning materials, food and transport to and from ECDE centres. School levies are determined by school management boards. Private ECDE centres often charge tuition fees beyond the means of many families, particularly those in economically disadvantaged backgrounds and/or rural areas.
The language of instruction in all ECDE centres is the language of the catchment area, which could be the mother tongue, English, Kiswahili, Kenyan Sign Language and other communication formats. There is the gradual introduction of the use of simple words at the Pre-Primary 2 level in English and Kiswahili in preparation for the transition to grade 1 (Kabiru, 2023; Republic of Kenya, 2006, 2022).
The Kenyan Constitution 2010 Section 53 (Government of Kenya, 2010) and the Basic Education Act 2013 (Republic of Kenya (MoE), 2013) stipulate that all children in Kenya are provided with free and compulsory basic education. The National Early Childhood Development Policy Framework 2006 (Republic of Kenya, 2006, 2022) emphasizes enhancing access, equity and quality service delivery for all children from conception through eight years. The National Pre-Primary Education Policy Standard Guideline 2018 emphasizes the age of the learner to join ECDE centres and access and the mode of monitoring curriculum implementation. However, the ECDE curricula differ from county to county because each county develops its guidelines for the management of ECDE. This is because Kenya has a national government, which only manages the training of ECDE teachers, and county governments. In this case, the ECDE has been devolved and is therefore managed by county governments. In all counties, all children join ECDE centres at the age of 4 years at Pre-Primary 1 and Pre-Primary 2 at 5 years. All the centres use the stipulated curriculum design for Pre-Primary 1 and Pre-Primary 2 (Republic of Kenya (MoE), 2013; Republic of Kenya, 2022).
The Ministry of Education has quality assurance officers mandated to conduct regular inspections of private and public ECDE centres (Republic of Kenya (MoE), 2013). In addition, county ECDE supervisors and ECDE directors conduct regular inspections to ascertain the quality of education in private and public ECDE centres. All teachers must be registered with the Teachers Service Commission and issued a licence (TSC NO) (TSC, n.d.). Inspection officers often countercheck teachers handling ECDE learners. Teaching and learning materials are always approved by the head teacher and the school administration before they are administered to the learners (Republic of Kenya, 2022).
The Ministry of Education in Kenya developed the Nation Goals of Education, which guide and govern all systems of education. ECDE has its own general goals set by the Ministry of Education, which include the development of the following aspects of child growth and development: social and interpersonal, self-help, interpersonal, academic, thinking, self-image, language and nutrition skills. This applies to both Pre-Primary 1 and 2 (Government of Kenya, 2010; Republic of Kenya, 2022).
ECDE objectives include the following:
Most ECDE teachers have attained a diploma level in teacher training – otherwise known as diploma in early childhood education from Certified Teacher Training Colleges. The qualification to join the training is that the teacher must have a C plain in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. This diploma course takes 3 years to complete, and teachers must undergo a 3-month teaching practice in an ECDE centre for them to graduate and be awarded the diploma certificate (Republic of Kenya (MoE), 2013; Republic of Kenya, 2006; TSC, 2012).
Other teachers qualify with certificate training only. For a teacher aide/caregiver to qualify to undertake the certificate course, they must have a C minus in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education and then must upgrade to a diploma level in a teacher training college. The certificate course, however, is being phased out gradually because currently, the minimum qualification for a teacher is a diploma certificate.
For a teacher to teach in both public and private ECDE centres, they must have a Teachers Service Commission number (TSC, 2012). The Teachers Service Commission is mandated to register all teachers in Kenya and, therefore, must be able to issue a teaching licence to all teachers for them to be able to practice their profession.
In most public and private schools, there is only one teacher per classroom. Few schools can afford to have a teacher and a teacher aide in a classroom, and the majority are inclusive classrooms.
| Time/day | 8:20 8:40 | 8:40 9:10 | 9:10 9:40 | 9:40 10:10 | 10:10 10:40 | 10:40 11:00 | 11:00 11:30 | 11:30 12:00 | 12:00 2:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MON | Health check | Language activities | B | mathematics | Psychomotor activities | B | Environmental activities | Creative activities | L |
| TUE | Health check | Language activities | R | mathematics | Religious activities | R | Environmental activities | Psychomotor activities | U |
| WED | Health check | Language activities | E | mathematics | Creative activities | E | Environmental activities | Religious activities | N |
| THU | Health check | Language activities | A | mathematics | Psychomotor activities | A | Environmental activities | Music activities | C |
| FRI | Health check | P.P.I | K | Language activities | Religious activities | k | Mathematics activities | Environmental activities | H |
Learners are expected to arrive at school by 8:00 a.m. Assemblies may be held within this time before the start of the lessons. Teaching and learning take place inside and outside the classroom between 8:40 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., and each lesson takes 30 minutes, as guided by the timetable. Health breaks are held within short intervals. A break for snacks is allowed around mid-morning, and a lunch break is between 12:00 noon and 12:30 p.m. Meals are supervised by teachers and caregivers. Most ECDE centres have feeding programs, while others allow learners to carry packed food and snacks. Swimming lessons are held once every week, where applicable. Educational and fun trips are held once every term. Nature walks are held every day, depending on the lesson of the day. Learners leave for their homes at 2:00 in the afternoon. As per the existing ECD policy framework, the teacher–pupil ratio is 1:40; however, some areas have a ratio of 1:70, which is much higher than the UNESCO recommended ratio of 1:25 (Republic of Kenya, 2006).
Early childhood education in Kenya experiences various challenges, including the following. There is inadequate funding from county governments. ECDE programs are devolved services; therefore, every county provides for its ECDE centres. This brings about a disparity in the disbursement of the funds to ECDE centres. There is no stipulated budget allocation for ECDE centres; thus, some county governments can allocate fewer funds to the centres. There is limited access to ECDE services; some centres, especially in rural areas, can be very far from the learners’ homes. Some learners walk long distances to reach school despite their tender age due to a lack of transport. At times, learners may not be consistent in accessing ECDE services.
Inadequate policy and legal frameworks are also challenging the ECDE. There is no legal framework guiding policy on the allocation of resources to ECDE centres. Disintegrated policy and legal frameworks are also considered a challenge; every county government has its own management bodies with different by-laws governing ECDE centres in their respective jurisdictions. Moreover, limited parental engagement is a challenge; most parents, especially those from disadvantaged economic backgrounds, do not participate actively in matters of education of their children, leading to limited collaboration between the parents and the teachers in ECDE centres. Another challenge is the diversified language of instruction. Given the diversity of the Kenyan population with different languages, there is no uniformity in the language of instruction. This is because the National Framework on Early Childhood Education 2006 stipulates the language of instruction as the language of the catchment area (Manduku et al., 2017; Republic of Kenya, 2006; Wangila, 2017).
There is a need to form a close partnership with the county government. This will result in improved funding, which will enable the provision of adequate resources to ECDE centres. Second, there is a need for awareness creation among parents and other stakeholders to have fundraisers to improve the infrastructure in ECDE centres. This will ensure proper collaboration among the stakeholders for the ease and improvement of service delivery. Another way forward is to conduct baseline studies on the patterns and trends of service provision to inform the improvement of service delivery. Finally, it is the need of the hour to have harmonization among ECDE teachers’ employers and be under one umbrella. This will improve service delivery, budgetary allocation and uniformity in the remuneration of ECDE teachers.
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Kabiru, M. (2023). ECD country experience: KENYA. Stories and Perspectives from Africa Are Crucial for the Future of Early Childhood Care and Education, 29.
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Manduku, J., Gichaba, A., & Koech, M. (2017). Challenges Facing In The Implementation Of Early Childhood Development Education In Kericho Country, Kenya.
Republic of Kenya. (2006). National Early Childhood Development Policy Framework. Kenya Government Printer.
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Wangila, V. M. (2017). The Challenges Facing the Implementation of Early Childhood Development and Education Policy in Bungoma County, Kenya. Journal of Education and Practice, 8(15), 217–223.
