Investigation on parent economic background and Children access to primary education. A case study of Mutomo district Kitui county.

The major concern of this project was that despite the introduction of FPE by the Kenyan government some school age going children are still locked out of school making them not to participate in primary education. The purpose of this study was to investigate how parent economic background influence children access to primary education in Mutomo District ,Kitui County. The objectives of this study were: 1. To determine how family income influence children access to primary education. 2. To find out how parent level of education influence children access to primary education 3. To suggest possible solutions to challenges encountered by economically disadvantaged children in their schooling. The research was guided by the status attainment theory .A descriptive survey was used to collect data from 10 head teachers 50 teachers 300 pupils and 1 key informant (DEO).The study used questionnaire for head teachers and pupils ,interview were conducted for the key informants. Schools head teachers and pupils were sampled using cluster random sampling technique. The key informant was selected automatically. Pupils were selected using Mugenda and Mugenda formula class six and seven were purposely sampled. Data was analyzed using statistical packages for social sciences .Data were then presented using frequency, bar graph and pie charts. The study out that most of the children from economically disadvantaged children do not get access to primary education .The study found out that parent level of income affect children access to education. It also found out that parent level of education influence children access to education .Most children who excel in academic work come from better off families. Findings reported that most of the children from economically disadvantaged background dropout of school to supplement family income. It was also evidenced that there was increased dropout rate since the year 2009 up to 2013 with boys being affected than girls. The research findings reported that the dropout rate was high at upper primary in the lower primary. The study found out that children from economically disadvantaged family show distinct characteristics from those born in better off families such as grade retention ,psychological and emotional behavior, distress poor performance, truancy ,pregnancy and some ant-social behavior. The study also came up with possible measures to beundertaken by the government, ministry of education, teachers and parents in order to increase the possibilities of children access to primary education. Lastly the study suggested other areas of researc