Education

Education has emerged as one of the central issues in the lives of poor children and families. It is increasingly shown to be of crucial importance to the life opportunities of poor children, making it a social service in increasing demand. Our research has demonstrated the important of pre-primary education, with those who had benefitted from pre-school education achieving better results later on with the effects still visible in primary completion results. https://www.younglives-ethiopia.org/node/588 We have advocated for the expansion of pre-primary education which previously was largely limited to urban areas and fee-paying households. The O-Class school readiness programme has since been rolled out throughout the country.  https://www.younglives-ethiopia.org/node/621Young Lives carried out a sub-study with the Ministry of Education on the roll out of  the O-class, teacher training and community demand for pre-primary education https://www.younglives-ethiopia.org/node/882  https://www.younglives.org.uk/publications/disparity-between-intention-…

However,  important questions remain over access and quality of primary and secondary education as well as over the ability of the education system to appropriately prepare young people for their future role in the market economy. In particular we have been able to show in comparing our two cohorts, that, while access improved, quality of education as indicated through literacy and numeracy tests declined between the two cohorts. This suggests an urgent need to work on improving school quality.

As young children, many of the Young Lives cohorts benefited from policy investments in health and education that were implemented as part of efforts to achieve MDG targets. Compared to two decades ago, they are more likely to spend their adolescence in school, to postpone entry into the labour force, and to delay marriage and childbearing. However, young people face different risk factors, and some of these investments in early childhood may subsequently be undone if policy attention is not brought to bear on this later life-stage as well. By following the life-course of children as they leave early childhood, enter adolescence and transition into adulthood, we gain invaluable insights into how the risks and opportunities they encounter along the way can impact on their long-term outcomes. Gender becomes a more significant factor during adolescence, affecting boys and girls in different ways at different times. While our research has shown that there has been significant progress adolescent girls in Ethiopia still face risks of gender-based violence, notably abduction and child marriage.

These insights highlight key opportunities for policymakers to provide support to adolescents and their families. Investing policy attention on this decisive period of children’s lives could result in more positive outcomes for both girls and boys in terms of education, economic participation, social capital, well-being and empowerment, and ensure the hard-won gains of early childhood are not lost.