Abstract
Free Primary Education (FPE) program was introduced in Kenya in 2003 by the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) Government to abolish primary school fees. Recent evidence indicates that a substantial number of children, especially girls are still out of school and that initial gains from the program have been eroded by wastage issues within the system. Specifically, girls from poor, rural and marginalized backgrounds are most affected. The study employed the critical social theory, from a gender perspective, to interrogate the concept of gender and intersectionality in education provision. The challenges that girls face due to social circumstances they find themselves in because they have a disability or where they come from either rural, urban slum, or marginalized region intersect with gender to exacerbate their exclusion in education. This study analyzes the 2019 basic education statistical data from Kenya and supplements it with evidence from qualitative data from four case schools representing rural, slum, pastoralist and disability categories of marginalization in the Kenyan context to highlight the multiple marginalizations that girls from these backgrounds face of girls. In confirming that gender intersectionality is a reality in gender neutral policies like the FPE, the study reports that girls from poor and marginalized communities have lower educational participation outcomes compared to their affluent counterparts due to social, cultural and economic factors. It suggests strategies of enhancing their status to enable them benefit from FPE and related interventions.
Published Version
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