An investigation of relationship between child abuse and early childhood development programme in Kangema district in Murang’a county

Abstract

Abuse amongst preschool children and its relation to the academic performance of preschool children has been a concern for different education stakeholders in developing countries. Thus, the main objective of the study was to investigate the relation between child abuse and early childhood development programme in Kangema District in Murang’a County. The study used the technique of systematic review of the literature to establish the relation between child abuse and enrolment, attendance, retention rates, performance and health care programmes. The study applied a concurrent triangulation design since it is single-phase design in which the researcher implemented the quantitative and qualitative methods during the same timeframe and with equal weight. It involved the concurrent, but separate, collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data so that the researcher may best understand the research problem. The researcher merged the two data sets, typically by bringing the separate results together in the interpretation or by transforming data to facilitate integrating the two data types during the analysis. This study was conducted amongst 40 preschools with a target population of 1500 from which a sample of 300 respondents was selected using The Central Limit Theorem. The study applied stratified random sampling to create 8 strata each consisting of 5 preschools in Kangema District. From each stratum, a sample of 1 preschool manager and 1 preschool teacher was randomly identified and then the researcher applied simple random sampling to select 1 preschool manager and 1 preschool teacher from each stratum since they hold responsibilities that bring them closer to the learners in order to relate their ideas and experiences to performance. The researcher then applied simple random sampling to select at least 6 parents’ representatives and 2 children’s officers. The researcher also applied simple random sampling to select at least 35 preschool children from each stratum since this method helped avoid the feeling of bias amongst the respondents. The separately, but concurrently, collected data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively and then merged into one overall interpretation in which the researcher related the quantitative results to the qualitative findings. The relevant information was broken into phrases which reflected a single, specific thought. Frequency counts of the responses were obtained to generate descriptive information about the respondents. The collected data was analyzed using Chi-square in Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS 21). The descriptive and inferential statistics analyses were used to analyze all the research questions. Data was presented using percentages, tables and charts because they summarize large quantities of data whilst making the report reader friendly. The study has established that there are different forms of child abuse which impede children’s participation in ECD programmes. The study thus; recommends that relevant policies should be formulated by the government and other education stakeholders to ensure adherence to policies which prohibit any form of child abuse