Family and school factors contributing to low pre-school enrolment in Burera District, Northern Province, Rwanda
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Date
2015-02-04
Authors
Habumuremyi, Jean Marie Vianney
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Abstract
The early years of life are critical to the development of an individual such that once they are misused serious repercussions may occur to the person's life. One of the ways to guard against these consequences is to educate children as early as possible. While in many western countries, early education is highly ensured, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the enrolment rates are still low. As part of Sub-Saharan Africa, Rwanda is not spared by the low pre-school enrolment whereby around 90% of the children were earlier
reported to not attend preschool education. The purpose of this study
therefore, was to confirm enrolment rates and investigate the family and school factors contri buti ng to the low pre-schoo I enrolment in rural areas of Burera District, Northern Province, Rwanda. The objectives for this study were to establish the current pre-school enrolment rate in Burera District and establish which family and school factors that contribute to the low preschool enrolment in Burera District. The study used ex post facto design. Data
collection tools included questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were used to gather information from parents. Interview schedules were used to capture information from the pre-school teachers, local leaders, District Education Officer as well as from the Early Childhood Specialist in the Ministry of Education. Cronbach's Alpha was used to compute the correlation coefficient where a=0.764. The research instruments were administered to a sample of 98 respondents selected from two sectors, one
representing the rural area and another representing the urban setting. The statistical package for social sciences was utilized to organize data for analysis. The data collected were subjected to critical' analysis and interpretation using statistical tools and conclusions were drawn. The study revealed that parents' income was very low which makes them unable to enroll children in pre-school. It was also noted that pre-schools in rural areas
were dispersed such that many children did not have any pre-school to attend to in the nearby. This study concluded that there is need to assist parents in rural areas by paying tuition fees and establish more pre-schools in every village to reduce the distance children walk to pre-school.
Description
Masters in Education-Department of Early Childhood Studies, 127p. November,2014. LB 1140.2 .H32