(Kenyatta University, 2015-05) Kaugi, E.; Waweru, S. N.
Through concerted efforts by various actors in education, Kenya has made significant progress in improving access to primary education. The entry of non-formal schools as an alternative mode of primary education delivery, especially for children from urban informal settlements, commonly referred to as slums, has enabled many school going-age children and youth from these settlements to access education. Since use of non-formal schools as a mode of education delivery is a recent phenomenon, the question of what non-formal schools are and who attend such schools is important. This paper uses the UNICEF (2000) framework of education quality to examine the quality of pupils who attend non-formal schools; evaluate the quality of learning environment in non-formal schools in Nairobi and examine the performance of pupils attending non-formal in the Kenya Certificate of primary education (KCPE). Among the research findings are that majority of pupils who attend non-formal schools were of normal school going age. However a good proportion were overage. A majority of the parents of children who attend non-formal schools were low income earners and therefore poor and, a good proportion of children attending non-formal schools did not receive support for their homework