G LO B A L E D U C AT I O N M O N I TO R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 6
Globally, 67% of children one year younger
than the primary school entrance age are
enrolled in pre-primary or primary education.
This estimate is close to but does not always
coincide with household survey estimates of
previous experience in pre-primary education
among first-grade students, which can also
track attendance levels by household wealth.
Among 3- to 4-year-olds in low and middle
income countries, children in the
richest households were almost six times as
likely as the poorest children to attend early
childhood education.
FIG U R E 9 :
Accounts of participation in early childhood care and education,
programmes differ between households and schools
Pre-primary adjusted net enrolment ratio in the last year of pre-primary education,
2014, and percentage of students in the first grade of primary school who participated
in pre-primary education the previous year, selected countries, 2010–2015
100
80
QUALITY
60
%
40
20
Adjusted net enrolment ratio, last year of pre-primary education
Attended pre-primary school the previous year
0
Chad
Sierra Leone
D. R. Congo
Mali
Bosnia/Herzeg.
Benin
Congo
Lao PDR
Belize
Gambia
Myanmar
TFYR Macedonia
Kyrgyzstan
Montenegro
S. Tome/Principe
Oman
Nepal
Dominican Rep.
Suriname
Barbados
Mongolia
Ghana
Kazakhstan
Qatar
Costa Rica
Argentina
Guyana
Zimbabwe
Panama
Saint Lucia
Rep. Moldova
El Salvador
Jamaica
Palestine
Belarus
Viet Nam
Serbia
Thailand
The target emphasizes the provision of
education of good quality. Quality may be
understood as the extent to which school and
classroom settings (including structures and
teaching processes) and systems support the
holistic development of children, particularly
those at risk of social exclusion. While countries
need to set their own goals and quality
standards, there are tools to monitor quality in
early childhood provision in a comparable way,
though they have prompted policy debates.
Among 21 low and middle income countries in
a World Bank review of early childhood policies,
13 set basic standards on pupil/teacher ratios
but only 8 enforced them.
SUMMARY
Sources: UIS database for the adjusted net enrolment ratio; MICS final and key findings
reports for the percentage of students in the first grade of primary school who attended
pre-school during the previous school year.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES
Target 4.2 focuses on ensuring children begin
formal schooling developmentally on track and ‘ready for primary school’. This holistic view marks a shift from a view
of child development based exclusively on health-related indicators. Deciding how best to measure child development
is complex. There is a need to track normative development across cultures and develop measurement approaches
based on the findings.
The measure with the highest current coverage is the UNICEF Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI). Across 56
mostly low and middle income countries over 2010–2015, it found that about 70% of 3-year-olds and 80% of 4-year-olds
were developmentally on track. The index consists of four components but is strongly determined by one of them,
literacy and numeracy, which can be criticized as reflecting early education norms rather than cognitive capacity.
A key factor helping children reach their potential is a home environment that provides interactions and learning
materials. Adult household members in Ukraine engaged almost all 3- to 4-year-olds in at least four activities,
compared with only 40% of children in Ghana. Across 54 mostly low and middle income countries over 2010–2015,
19% of households had at least 3 children’s books and 7.5% had at least 10. Among the poorest 20%, less than 1% of
households had at least 10 books.
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