Determining the extent to which cultural factors influence access to primary education among nomadic pastoralists in Loima Sub-County Turkana County.

Abstract

The current study aimed at determining the extent to which cultural factors influence access to primary education among nomadic pastoralists in Loima Sub-County, Turkana County. Access to primary education among nomadic pastoralist communities in Loima Sub-County, Turkana County, presents a multifaceted challenge influenced by various cultural factors. Numerous studies emphasize the centrality of cultural norms and practices in shaping educational opportunities for nomadic pastoralist children. The study was guided by Russell’s theory on education, propounded by the British philosopher, logician, mathematician and historian and adopted the descriptive and correlation research designs which are considered appropriate for gathering information regarding respondents’ behaviour, feelings and perceptions about educational issues. According to Man’s (2015), target population is the totality of persons, events, units, organization or other sampled units which concerns the key research issue. The target population was 471 which included 160 parents, 9 sub-county education officers, 147 teachers and 155 pupils. Edie Seva See and Mary Musni formula was used to calculate the sample size of all teachers, parents, pupils and sub-county education officers which was 123. The study used a structured questionnaire containing both open ended and close ended questions to collect data from teachers, parents, pupils and sub-county education officers. From the findings, early marriages, insecurity and gender inequalities were the significant cultural factors, that had significant influence on access to primary education to a large extent. The study concluded that, cultural factors such as early marriages and gender inequalities influence access to primary education among nomadic pastoralists and recommends that the government of Kenya, non-governmental actor’s and other organizations create awareness among the nomadic pastoralist communities not adopting regressive cultural practices that hinder development.