Socio-cultural factors influencing access to primary school education by female learners who are physically disabled in Kisumu East Ward, kisumu county Kenya

Education is one of the basic human rights. The right to education has been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Girl child education was identified as the most urgent priority at the World Conference on Education For All, held in Jomtein (1990).This includes the rights of females who are physically disabled. The rights of people with disabilities is a growing phenomenon Worldwide. Female learners who are physically disabled have constraints in attaining their academic endeavors, which would enable them to be self-reliant. Records from a special school for the physically disabled in Kisumu county shows that among the males and females who register in class one, very few females with physical disabilities complete primary education as compared to the males, yet socio-cultural factors influencing their access to primary education are not well understood. The overall objective was to examine socio-cultural factors influencing access to primary schools education by female learners who are physically disabled in Kisumu East ward. The specific objectives of the study were, to establish the attitudes of female learners who are physically disabled towards education, explore the household factors that influence access to education by female learners who are physically disabled and assess the community’s attitude towards provision of education to females who are physically disabled in Kisumu East Ward. The study was guided by Social exclusion theory by Burchant, Le Grand and Pichaud (2006). The study population included females who were physically disabled below twenty five years of age in Kisumu East Ward whose current number had not been established. The study used descriptive research design. The starting point was interviews with 10 teachers and 20 individual interviews with female learners who were physically disabled in a school. One hundred females who were physically disabled were finally selected, 40 female learners in school were selected using purposive sampling procedure and 60 females out of school were selected using snowball sampling procedure until saturation. Qualitative data was analyzed through ethnographic methods of thematic analysis. The data was presented using texts and verbatim quotations. Quantitative data was coded and analyzed using relevant descriptive Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and was presented through tables and charts. The findings showed that, females with physical disabilities had negative attitude towards their own education. Due to financial constraints in most of the families of females with physical disabilities and the fact that their education was more expensive than their able bodied siblings, they were left at home while others went to school. Females with physical disabilities who were orphaned had no one to take them to school. It was also realized that social barriers as well as physical barriers posed many difficulties in accessing education by females with physical disabilities. The study recommends that; females with physical disabilities should be exposed to female role models with physical disabilities who have gone through education and are successful enough to be emulated, sensitization should be conducted by the government to make the community aware of the cultures that hinder developments and their responsibility towards provision of services to persons with disabilities and reinforce policy formulation that may positively influence access to education by females who are physically disabled.