Definition:

The Gross Enrolment Ratio in Early Childhood is the total number of children enrolled in early childhood development programs, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population in the relevant official age-group 3 to 6.

In the Gambia, provision for Early Childhood Education is demand driven provided by the private sector and NGOs. Within the spirit of partnership, The Gambia Government, through the Department of State for Education, has been committed to ensuring a comprehensive Early Childhood Education and Development (ECD). In the revised education policy, government will develop, in consultation with providers, NGOs and local authorities, operational policy guidelines for the opening, management and supervision of pre-school institutions and a comprehensive medium term plan for ECD. It will also ensure that the quality of pre-school education is maintained, increase material for ECD in teachers' resource centres and identify training needs of pre-school staff, and organise training programs for them. Public resources will be targeted at community based and managed programs in the most disadvantaged areas, whilst more cross-sectoral integrated approaches to early childhood care are being developed.

This indicator measures the general level of participation of young children in early childhood development programs. It also indicates a country's capacity to prepare young children for primary education.

Comprehensive data on pre-school enrolment is being collected for the first time in The Gambia by the PPARBD. Hence a trend analysis cannot be done to show developments in this area during the decade under review. However, the number of centres has increased from 125 in 1995 to 265 in 1998 (Table 1.1). A 'Diagnostic Evaluation of Day Care Centres in The Gambia' (June 1996) intimates that the increasing involvement of women in economic activities, growing awareness of the value of an early start to education and the intensive promotion of ECD provisions, account for the rapid growth.

The GER of 17.7% in 1998 (Table1.2 & Figure 1.1) clearly indicates that the provision of pre-school education, in spite of its existence in The Gambia for over a decade, is yet to reach the majority of children. Only 17.7% of the official age-group population (3-6 years) are receiving this service; 17.5% for male and 18.0% for female.

The regional distribution highlights serious disparities. Region 1 & 2 accounts for 46.9% of the population at this level but captures a staggering 72.5% of the overall enrolment at this level. This demonstrates that the provision is highly demand driven and hence its concentration in the urban and peri-urban areas. Indeed, the presence of a larger working population outside the traditional subsistence activities is prominent in these more affluent areas. The regional disparities in GER further buttress this reality. Region 1 and 2 have a GER of 26.8% and 30.7% respectively, compared to 8.5% and 6.1% for region 5 and 6 respectively. At the national level, female participation is slightly higher than male (18% compared to 17.5%) at this level. By region, female participation is higher in both Regions 3 and 4, while males dominate in the other regions.

In terms of Gender Parity Index (GPI), there is a balance between boys and girls at the national level (1.0) and also in both regions 1 and 2. It is interesting to note that in both Region 3 and 4, female participation at this level is higher than male participation; a GPI of 1.3 and 1.1 respectively. The reverse is, however, the case in region 5 and 6 where GPI is 0.8 and 0.9 respectively.

Table: 1.2. GER for ECD by region and gender - 1998

Definition:

The number of new entrants to primary grade 1 who have attended some form of organised early childhood development program equivalent to at least 200 hours expressed as a percentage of total number of new entrants to primary grade 1. This indicator helps to assess the proportion of new entrants to grade 1 who presumably have received some preparation for primary schooling through ECD program.

The policy will ensure that the quality of pre-school education is maintained through increased materials for ECDC in teacher resource centres, and identifying training needs of pre-school staff and organise training programs for them. In many schools in the urban areas, preference is given to intakes with ECD experience.

Of the total enrolment in Grade 1, 46.6% are from Region 1 and 2 (Table 1.1). Like the GER, these two regions account for 72.7% of the new students with ECD experience. In 1998, 27.5% of the new enrolment in Grade 1 had ECD experience (table 2.1); with female participation marginally greater than male (27.8 and 27.2 respectively). Hence a GPI of 1.0. Regionally, the GPI is balanced in Region 1 and 2, more favourable to girl’s (1.1) in Region 3 and 4 and more favourable to boy’s (0.8) in Region 5 and 6. The overall percentage participation shows deeper regional disparity when the GER by region is reviewed. In region 1, 53.3% of new entrants to Grade 1 had ECD experience compared to only 11.3% and 9.4% for Region 5 and 6 respectively. Even though ECD provision is concentrated in the urban and peri- urban area, only 53.3% and 39.5% in Region 1 and 2 respectively have ECD experience; showing that about half of the Grade 1 children in Region 1 have ECD experience while 4 out 10 children have ECD experience in Region 2. Given the total new entrants (13,652) in regions 1 and 2 and those with ECD experience (6,177), only 45.2% have ECD experience with about 182 centres (68.6% of all centres) in these two regions. This clearly shows that there is under utilisation of the currently available ECD facilities. Services at this level are largely provided by the private sector, NGOs and missions that are largely driven by commercial motive. Hence affordability becomes an issue for the majority of household in these two regions. Of course in the rural areas the problem becomes more pronounced and therefore resort to traditional practices i.e. leaving children in the care of siblings, grandparents or accompanying mothers to the work fields, becomes the practice.

Definition:

Total number of new entrant in the first grade of primary regardless of age expressed as a percentage of the population at the official primary school entrance age. An Apparent Intake Rate (AIR) reflects the general level of access to primary education. It also indicates the capacity of the education system to provide access to grade 1 for the official school entrance age population. This indicator is used as substitute for Net Intake Rate (NIR) in the absence of data on new entrants by single years of age.

The official entry age at this level is seven years. However, schools enrol students who are both above and below this age. In the rural area, more children below the official entry age are being admitted while schools in the urban area, particularly Region 1, are more vigilant regarding the entry age. Given the fact that the number of Early Childhood Education Centres is more in this area and the option exists for parents to send their children to these Centres, primary schools have very good reasons for not admitting underage children in Region 1.

Table 3.1 and Figure 3.1 show the Apparent Intake Rate (AIR) by Gender 1991/92 to 1998/99. At the national level, the number of new entrants to grade 1, as a percentage of 7 - year old population has been rising steadily except in few instances where the indicator dropped.

Despite the few incidence of a drop in the AIR (i.e. in 1994/95, 1996/97 and 1997/98), it is quite evident that the total number of new entrants has increased from 61.7% (71.0% for boys and 52.4% for girls) in 1991/92 to 76.3% (78.7% for boys and 73.8% for girls) in 1998/99, reaching a peak of 83.8% in 1995/96. This shows that more than 3 out of every 10 children (more than 5 out of every 10 girls) were not in school at the beginning of the period. In 1995/96, only 16% of this group were out of school but the figure has increased to 24% in 1998/99. The narrowing of the gender parity index form 0.74 in 1991/92 to 0.94 in 1998/99 clearly shows the significant strides made in increase enrolment of girls over the period.

Like most indicators, the AIR for female lags behind that of male during the period. However, the increase of the female AIR from 52.4% in 1991/92 to 73.8% - an increase of 21.4 percentage points- shows a faster growth rate than the Male AIR (i.e.71.0% to 78.7% - an increase of just 7.7 percentage points). Despite this gender difference in AIR growth, both have increased over the years showing that the number of children entering primary school is increasing thus creating greater access to schooling.

Tables 3.2a, b and c below show the AIR by Gender and Region. During the period 1991/92 to 1998/99, the regional picture for the AIR shows a similar trend to the national picture. However, it is interesting to note that in Regions 3 to 6 (the rural part of the country), the number of new entrants to grade 1, as a percentage of 7 year olds, is higher than the corresponding figure for Regions 1 & 2 - the urban part of the Gambia.

This clearly indicates that in the rural area, a greater number of children enter grade 1 than is the case in the urban area. This difference could be attributed to the larger percentage of children in the rural area who, for reasons of geographical inaccessibility hitherto, were not going to school but were enrolled when schools were placed closer to their communities during this period.

Table 3.2a: AIR by Gender and Region - 1991/92

New entrants in the first grade of primary education who are of the official primary school-entrance age, expressed as a percentage of the population of the same age. The Net Intake Rate (NIR) gives a more precise measurement of access to primary education of the eligible, primary school-entrance age population than does the AIR.

As indicated above, the official primary school entrance age is seven. In the rural area this entry age is hardly observed owing to the fact that teachers in this part of the country spend a good part of their time encouraging parents to send their children to school. In effect, schools do not reject children for either being under or above the official entry age.

In Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1 below, the NIR for both sexes has been very low at the beginning. It increased steadily however during the period up to 1995/96 when it took a downward trend.

Similar to the AIR, the NIR for female has been trailing that of male but the percentage increase for the female NIR is greater than that of male. In fact while the difference was 7.3 percentage points in 1991/92, by 1998/99, the difference was down to 1.2 percentage points. For both sexes, the official school age population entering grade 1 has never reached 50% during the entire period, implying that less than half of the entrants in grade 1 have the official age. In a situation where efforts are being put at encouraging children to attend school, to put a lot of emphasis on admitting children of official entry age could be counter-productive and may have a serious exclusion effect.

Tables 4.2a, b and c show the NIR by gender and Region. Clearly, the picture regarding the NIR does not follow any regional pattern. While it is low in some rural areas in 1998/99 (34.1% in Region 3 & 35.8 in Region 6), it is as high as 48.9% (Region 4) for both sexes in another rural area but as low as 32.9% in Region 1. This erratic pattern of the NIR shows that the official school entry age of seven years is not strictly being adhered to in most regions hence the large number of under and over-age children entering grade 1.

Table 4.2a: NIR by Gender and Region – 1991/92