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UGANDA VIEW
Speed up ECD policy
Research has shown that investment in Early Childhood
Development (ECD) has a 700% return in terms of savings later. Studies
have also established that ECD interventions are crucial for shaping a
responsible citizenry.
A human personality is formed at the age of four years and that is what
is retained throughout life.
The Government can, therefore, no longer afford to sit
back and leave the shaping of its citizens to chance. It is
disheartening that, despite the enormous benefits of ECD initiatives,
Uganda has left the programme in the hands of private individuals and
non-governmental organisations. The country is yet to come up with an
ECD policy.
ECD initiatives are known to stem high dropout, repetition and failure
rates as well as underage enrolment, which characterise our education
system. The solution to these problems lie in ECD initiatives as studies
in China, India, Indonesia and Nepal have demonstrated.
ECD centres — nursery or kindergartens — as popularly known in Uganda,
act as hold-up centres for primary schools.
This would check the current high underage enrolment. In Nepal, 95% of
the children now enter Primary One at the right age of six years as a
result of ECD interventions.
There is also a strong correlation between attendance
of nursery and the level of academic achievement and retention in
primary schools. Studies have shown that a Primary One promotion rate of
85% can be achieved through ECD programmes. In Nepal, a poor country
like Uganda, the repetition rate among ECD graduates was found at 5.5%
compared to the national average of 36.7%. This indicates that Uganda's
current repetition rate of 13% can almost be eliminated through ECD
interventions. Repetition costs Uganda sh5b annually, according to a
World Bank study.
The Government should, therefore, seriously address
ECD programmes.
The first step should be a policy framework to roll out the programme in
a co-ordinated manner, otherwise we shall continue toeing a costly path
to UPE.
Editorial, New Vision (Kampala)
26 July 2005
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