Since independence in 1963, Kenya has invested substantial resources in the
education sector. For almost three successive decades, these investments and other
government policies led to impressive gains in educational access at all levels. However,
in the nineties there appears to have been an erosion in educational participation
and a reversal of the gains achieved in previous decades. Motivated by this trend, this
paper uses temporal and cross-section data to assess the plausibility of various factors
that may be responsible for the decline in primary school educational enrolment. In
particular, we consider the role of school fees, school inputs and curriculum, school
availability, the expected benefits of education and the spread of HIV/AIDS. We also
try to identify the most effective policy interventions that may be used to prevent further
declines in primary school enrolment rates.