EFFECT OF STREET AND NON-STREET CHILDREN’S CHARACTERISTICS ON SCHOOLING IN NAKURU CITY, KENYA

Abstract

Street children, just like all other children, are protected by both local and international law. The SDG goal number four provides for quality education for all. Basic education at elementary levels can be attributed to school attendance since it requires direct involvement of the teacher in shaping the intellectual progress of the learner. Many children in society, however, are dropping off from school opting to live and work on the streets. This is blocking the attainment of United Nation’s declaration on Education for All as well as the Kenyan government’s policy on compulsory basic education. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the effect of street and non-street children’s characteristics on their schooling in Nakuru city, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to estimate the effect of demographic characteristics of street and non-street children on schooling, to estimate the effect of family background factors of street and non-street children on schooling, and to estimate the effect of location of origin for street and non-street children on schooling in Nakuru city. The study relied on the social cognitive theory of education. Comparative research design was employed in the study. The study was conducted in Nakuru city, within the central business district. A sample size of 278 street children was obtained from a population of 1,002 street children using the Krejci & Morgan sample determination table. All the public primary and secondary schools within the town were targeted to get 1000 non street children to get a sample of 278 for comparison. Nakuru children’s officers were interviewed to obtain the details on the street children in the town. Both purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used in the identification of respondents. Questionnaires were used as the main instrument for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression to test hypotheses. From the results, it was found that demographic factors such as gender, age and education level of the respondents are statistically significant in predicting the chances of going to the streets among children in Nakuru city. The results also suggested that family characteristics like parenthood, the number of siblings in the family as well as the number of meals a day in the family were statistically significant in determining the chances of joining streets among children in Nakuru city. It was also established that the location of origin among children in Nakuru city is important in determining the chances of ending up on the streets. It was concluded that age, gender, and level of education are important in determining the chances of schooling among children in Nakuru. Family characteristics such nature of parenthood was found to be the major determinant of schooling or non-schooling among the children. Families with a high number of siblings and low number meals per day had higher chances of their children dropping out of school and joining streets. It was also concluded that children who come from rural areas had high chances of becoming street children compared to their urban areas’ counterparts. Due to this, it’s recommended that the government should develop and implement targeted educational support programs for the street children based on their specific needs and characteristics identified in the study. Education financiers and other actors should design financial assistance programs or scholarships to alleviate the economic burden faced by families of non-street children