Education Sector Development Program - VLIR-UOS

Education Sector Development Program IV
Improving equity and access in General
Education
Equity and Access in Early Childhood Care
and Education
1. Situation analysis
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) has
known an important expansion under ESDP III.
Enrolments have grown at an annual rate of
between 8.8% in 2004/2005 to 18.1% in 2008/2009.
There has also been a significant growth in the
number of kindergartens (1,497 in 2004/05 to
2,893 in 2008/2009). This has led to an increase
in the gross enrolment rate from 2.2% in 2004/05
to 4.2% in 2008/2009, with very little difference
between boys and girls. The number of ECCE
teachers has grown more quickly even than the
enrolment, the result being that there has been
a significant decrease in the pupil/teacher ratio
(32:1 in 2004/05 to 16:1 in 2008/2009).
Notwithstanding this progress, the gross
enrolment rate remains low, at 6.9% in 2009/2010,
and enrolment is heavily concentrated among
urban areas (Addis Ababa has a GER of about
50%) and among fairly well-off social groups.
Under ESDP III, the government was expected
to provide incentives to private providers as well
as to rural communities to set up ECCE schools.
However, this has succeeded much better with
private providers than with communities.
In various regions, with the support of development
partners and in close collaboration with the local
communities, an interesting initiative has been
launched with success: it consists of organizing
a pre-primary class within an existing primary
school. This has helped spreading ECCE into
rural areas.
Main challenges
2. Expected program outcomes
❚
❚
• Overall enrolment levels remain
low: national GER at 6.9% in
2009/2010.
• Enrolment is concentrated in
urban areas.
• Few communities succeeded in
creating ECCE centers.
Access to Early Childhood Care and
Education increased through formal
and non-formal delivery methods
Provision of ECCE in rural areas
improved, in particular through
coordination, supervision, training and
awareness raising to communities
Key outcome targets
GER for ECCE will increase from 6.9% in 2009/10
to 20% in 2014/15
A pre-primary class will exist in all rural and
urban primary school compounds.
3. Policy and strategies
Under ESDP IV, the government will give
increased attention to the expansion of access
to ECCE. Participating in ECCE helps the young
child prepare for the formal school and succeed
in the early grades. Through an expansion of
ECCE the drop-out rate in early grades, which
is very high in many Ethiopian schools, can
significantly decrease. At the same time, children
who have attended ECCE, more easily acquire the
necessary basic reading and writing skills.
The government’s role in increasing access will
be mainly one of promoting and coordinating the
involvement of other stakeholders, such as private
providers, communities and cooperatives/unions.
The successful pilot program of creating ECCE
classes on formal primary school compounds
will be further promoted.
Special strategies will be developed to increase
the number of ECCE classes and programs
in rural areas. These will consist of providing
incentives to communities, of promoting iddirbased
ECCE owned by low-income communities
and of providing support to stakeholders who
set up ECCE classes in rural primary school
compounds.
Generally speaking, the modes of expanding
ECCE services will be both through formal
and non-formal. The formal delivery will be
through pre-schools owned and managed by
the community and by private entrepreneurs.
The non-formal delivery will be through the
child-to-child initiative, particularly for rural and
pastoralist communities, in which older children
(young facilitators) participate in structured playoriented
activities with their younger siblings
and neighbors’ children. These activities will be
adapted to the local context and fit in with the
child’s daily life. This approach will make use of
students of grades 5 and 6 trained and guided by
their teachers whereby teachers will be involved
as trainers and supervisors, and parents will take
turns and observe. The main aim of the child-tochild
initiative is to better prepare young children
for primary school. It is considered an effective
low cost way of improving school readiness.
31