The United Nations Children’s Fund has said pre-primary education provides the highest return on investment of all education sub-sectors.
It, thereby, called for more investment in pre-primary education.
Pre-primary school also known as creche or the nursery is an educational arrangement for children aged between three and five years. Its major concern is intellectual growth in a developmental setting where social, emotional, and physical growth is also promoted.
A statement on UNICEF’s website advised that equitable pre-primary education was an effective strategy for promoting economic growth. It, however, maintained that “Pre-primary education provides the highest return on investment of all education sub-sectors. Yet, it receives the smallest share of government expenditure compared to primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Quality pre-primary education sets a strong foundation for learning. Universal pre-primary education helps make education systems more effective and efficient.”
UNICEF added that efforts to scale up access to pre-primary education should not come at the expense of quality, saying that quality was the sum of many parts, including teachers, families, communities, resources, and curricula.
“Without adequate safeguards for quality, expansion efforts can intensify education inequities. It is only by investing in quality as education systems grow not after that governments can expand access and maintain quality.”
UNICEF lamented that access to early childhood education had been slow and inequitable, both across and within countries.
It explained that globally, vulnerable children were disproportionately excluded from quality pre-primary education, even though it could have the greatest impact on them.
“To ensure no child is left behind, governments should adopt policies that commit to universal pre-primary education and prioritise the poorest and hardest-to-reach children at the start of the road to universality, not the end.
“Children enrolled in at least one year of pre-primary education are more likely to develop the critical skills they need to succeed in school and less likely to repeat grades or drop out. As adults, they contribute to peaceful societies and prosperous economies. Evidence of how pre-primary education advances development exists around the world,” it read.