AN ASSESSMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT ON FINANCING PUBLIC PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION IN ELDORET EAST SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) refers to the education that children receive during the early stage of their childhood. Early Childhood Education could also be a major input into a child’s formal education. The main purpose of this study was to investigate efficacy of County Government on financing public pre-school education in Kenya, a case of Eldoret East Sub-County, Uasin-Gishu County. This study was guided by the following objectives to assess the influence of administrative support on financing public pre-school education in Eldoret East Sub-County. This study adopted a descriptive survey design. The study targeted 1 sub-county education officers, 174 Head Teachers, 174 Pre-school teachers and 174 SMC chairpersons in the Eldoret East Sub- County. It used a purposive sampling for the 1 sub-county educational officers and simple random sampling for the 52 Head Teachers, 52 Pre-school teachers, and 52 SMC chairpersons. The researcher used questionnaires. With the aid of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) descriptive (Percentage, frequency, means, standard deviation) and inferential statistical methods (Pearson Correlation Coefficient) were used to analyze and present the results. The study findings indicated that there was significant relationship between administrative support and financing pre-school education. The study concluded that infrastructural development funds for ECDE schools in the county were mainly from the County government and parents. Not all financial transactions were recorded in ECDE centers and at the same time, audits were regularly conducted on all projects. The study recommends that strategic mechanisms be put in place to lobby for financial support of ECDE programs from different stakeholders. It is further recommended that training of ECDE centre committees on financial management skills be done so as to improve on financial management. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be of great importance to policy makers on understanding the best strategies that if implemented will promote efficacies in the administration of ECDE funds