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| The
challenges in early childhood education are enormous |
| By
Judith L. Evans |
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 Should
there be another decade devoted to Education for All? Probably
not, unless some serious changes are made. For example, EFA
needs to:
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Re-establish
learning as the focus of EFA, not formal education. |
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Embrace
the learning that occurs outside the school -- at home,
in the community, and for all ages. |
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Develop
realistic goals in terms of what can be achieved, and
develop appropriate markers along the way to assess progress,
including indicators for early childhood. |
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| The
statement, Learning begins at birth, was written into the EFA
Framework for Action because all children are born with the
capacity to learn. The intent of this statement was to make
people aware that "learning" is not the prerogative of schools,
but that learning is a part of everyone's life, right from the
beginning. So, if we want to really address how to develop support
for learning, we need to move beyond the four walls of the classroom
into the community. One of the groups that is within that community
is children from birth up to the age of entry into school --
the early childhood period. |
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| While
there has been a considerable growth in investment in early
childhood care and development (ECCD) since the World Conference
on EFA (i.e. over the past 10 years) it has now always been
linked to EFA. Other events and trends have brought increased
attention to the needs of young children and their families.
These include the continuing drop in infant mortality and the
need to attend to those who survive, the increasing involvement
of women in the labour force, the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, the Social Summit, and advocacy by the Consultative
Group on Early Childhood Care and Development. As a result,
early childhood may be the fastest growing sector within the
field of 'education'. Evidence for this is in the types of early
childhood programmes that have been funded by international
agencies over the past ten years* . While
many of those involved in the EFA alliance are in fact engaged
in early childhood programming, in general it is not linked
to EFA, but to other in-house initiatives within those organisations |
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| And
while some governments in developing countries have indeed increased
their contribution to early childhood programmes (usually through
the introduction of pre-schools and/or kindergartens within
the formal education sector) the level of investment ranges
from only .01% of the education budget to a high of 10%. But
do we really know how much the sector has grown? In the EFA
2000 Assessment, the indicators requested (there were only two)
focus only on enrollment and say nothing about the quality of
the system or about what has happened to children. Part of the
problem is the focus on "growth" of systems, per se, and not
on what is happening to children's learning and development.
Furthermore, since the indicators rely on the primary education
system as the point of reference, the full range of activities
that occur within ECCD programmes is not reflected. |
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| In
order to present a more valid picture of developments within
the early childhood sector a separate study is being conducted
by the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development
that will take a more intensive look at the status of early
education and development in six countries. What we expect to
find is that access to early education is still skewed toward
the middle class and urban areas and that the quality of ECCD
programmes leaves much to be desired. |
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| The
challenge is enormous because of the demographic pressures and
increased poverty that most countries experience. Yet efficient
and low-cost options for early childhood exist, and are adapted
to the needs of children, the life conditions of families, the
culture and resources. Their implementation depends more on
creating adequate political and social will than any other factor.
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| Overall,
I think it is safe to say that within EFA there is a serious
lack of recognition of the value and importance of early childhood
initiatives. Thus if EFA is to meet its own goals, it needs
to examine its commitment to the statement that learning begins
at birth. |
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| Judith
L. Evans is Director in the Bernanrd van Leer Foundation
and represents the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care
and Development on the Education for All Steering Committee,
which she joined in 1997. |
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| *
For example, the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank,
the Asian Development Bank international NGOs like the Save
the Children Alliance, Christian Children's Fund, and foundations
like the Aga Khan Foundation, and, of course, the Bernard van
Leer Foundation. And new partners are increasing their investment
(e.g., UNICEF, UNESCO and Plan International). |
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| For more
information on early childhood education, read the EFA
2000 Bulletin No. 28 (July-September 1997) |
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