Boost investment in pre-school to ensure quality learning outcome

Embu Governor Martin Wambora hands packets of milk to pupils of County Primary Schools in Embu town during the launch of Embu County School Milk programme. [Joseph Muchiri, Standard]

Most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have invested unwisely in pre-school education in comparison to primary, secondary and tertiary education, according to UNESCO and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). An early childhood education policy analyst at UNESCO International Institute for Education Planning Diane Coury, told a conference in Casablanca, Morocco last week that only two per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s education budget goes to pre-primary education.

While enrollment rates in pre-primary education in other parts of the world had been growing faster, the situation had been different in Sub-Saharan Africa. “Currently, the average pre-school participation rate in the region stands at 32 per cent compared to the median global gross enrollment rate of 50 per cent,” Coury told delegates that included education officials from Kenya. So far, only one in seven children are enrolled in a pre-school programme, compared to one in three for all developing countries put together.