•Following a national policy reform of early childhood education in Ethiopia, the enrolment rate increased from 5 percent in 2010 to 46 percent in 2016.•Following this large-scale expansion of early ...childhood education, we find that inequalities in preschool access persisted with respect to a child's geographical location, gender, age.•Parental literacy plays a significant role in determining preschool participation in both 2010 and 2016.•After the expansion, preschool participation is significantly and positively associated with children's early reading skills in primary schools.
In Ethiopia, major policy reforms to increase equitable access to pre-primary education were instigated in 2010, leading to a surge in pre-primary school enrolment. This paper investigates the effects of the expansion on who gets access to pre-primary education and on readiness for primary school. We find that inequalities in pre-primary access between advantaged and disadvantaged regions of the country persist following the reforms, with girls less likely to attend school, particularly in more disadvantaged regions. More than half of children enrolled in pre-primary classrooms are below the official age of 6 years. Children from more advantaged backgrounds (those whose parents are literate, have reading materials at home, and live in urban areas) are more likely to participate in pre-primary schools both before and after the reform. Yet pre-primary education could play a role in equalizing opportunities in primary school: we find pre-primary participation to be positively associated with children's reading skills in Grades 2 and 3 of primary school after the expansion. These findings highlight the need to focus policy attention on efforts to reduce barriers to pre-primary access for children in disadvantaged circumstances.
Seit Inkrafttreten der UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention (UN-BRK) haben die meisten Länder der Welt diese ratifiziert und unterzeichnet; darunter auch eine große Zahl afrikanischer Länder. Auf der Basis ...von Berichten ausgewählter Länder Afrikas werden der jeweilige Stand der Umsetzung und Vorhaben für die nahe Zukunft im jeweiligen Land vorgestellt und erörtert. Dabei werden vielfältige und sehr unterschiedliche Varianten der Umsetzung schulischer Inklusion erkennbar. Sie regen zur fachlichen Auseinandersetzung an und geben zahlreiche Denkimpulse.
For children with special needs, care providers in many countries place a particularly strong emphasis on providing early childhood intervention services with the intention that early experiences ...will alter the developmental path and life experiences for many of these children and their families. The UNICEF priorities reflect this international movement by supporting intervention in integrated early childhood programs to "ensure the best possible start" as one of the five targeted goals for 2002-2005. Here, Odom et al describe early intervention for infants and young children with disabilities and their families conducted in countries around the world and highlight features that are common across countries.
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