Education Inequality between Urban Slum and Rural Arid and Semi-Arid Areas of Kenya

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue IV, April 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Education Inequality between Urban Slum and Rural Arid and Semi-Arid Areas of Kenya

Jafred Muyaka
Department of Foundations of Education, School of Education, University of Eldoret, P.O. BOX 1125-30100, Eldoret, Kenya

Abstract: – The purpose of the current paper was to determine the relationships between marginalised school location (Urban Slums versus Arid and Semi-Arid Lands) and girls’ performance in literacy and numeracy in Kenya. The study sampled 5,185 girls in Grades 5,6, 7 and 8 in the Urban slums of Nairobi and Mombasa Counties and ASAL areas of Turkana, Tana River, Kwale, Samburu, Marsabit and Kilifi Counties. The findings show significant differences in the performance of girls in Urban slums and ASALs in favour of the former. In addition, girls’ performance in middle grades (5&6) was better in numeracy than literacy while upper grades (7&8) the performance was better in literacy than numeracy. The study recommends the need to have quality education as one of the educational metrics to direct the education policy for the marginalised groups in Kenya.

Key Words: Marginalisation, Literacy, Numeracy, Urban slums, ASALs; Learning Outcomes

I. INTRODUCTION

Three decades ago during the ‘World Conference on Education for All’ held in Thailand, it was resolved that every citizen of the world has a right to education. The success of these pronouncements cannot be gain said particularly in the increased enrolment witnessed in basic education. However, global educational statistics still show that Education for All goal remains elusive. Globally, we have over 100 million children out of schools with 60% being girls. Further, we have about one billion adults observed to be illiterate. Again, women are the majority estimated to be about 67.7% of the illiterate adults [1].
The quality of education in schools has been the other concern. Not all pupils who enroll and attend schools regularly attain the skills and knowledge necessary to be useful members of the society [1]. Functional illiteracy is still prevalent in some of the education systems for both low income and also industrialised and developing countries. Drop-out rate is still high with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimating that about 100Mpupilsdropped out of basic education cycle [1]. In sub-Saharan Africa, 9% of the enrolled pupils dropped out of school before they completed the first year of school [2].

Read More