Abstract

Enhancing Young Children ’s Access to Early Childhood Education and Care in Tanzania

Highlights

  • The objective of this chapter is to offer information and evidence on early childhood education and care (ECEC) from an international perspective to those who are, directly or indirectly, involved with young children and their families

  • The chapter draws on the current situation of limited access of young children to early childhood

  • There are large numbers of children who do not have access to ECEC settings for a number of reasons such as lack of support from the government, lack of awareness of parents of the importance of early investment, low socio-economic status of parents, traditional norms and cultural values, and gender discrimination. It is recognised by the World Declaration on Education for All (EFA) and the Framework for Action that education is a child’s right [38, 39], and it needs to be valued from early years

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Summary

Introduction

The objective of this chapter is to offer information and evidence on early childhood education and care (ECEC) from an international perspective to those who are, directly or indirectly, involved with young children and their families. Education and care in many countries, including African countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, and South Africa has been institutionalised into separate administrative arrangements for care and education [1, 4] Such separation of administrative arrangements runs counter to a holistic view of learning and development and that education and care should be integrated, with the child and family as the central focus. In Tanzanian context, parents and community at large have negative attitude in regard to early investment, they perceive investing in early years like a waste of money [6, 7] In this regard, their complains include the notion that young children who have access to the ECEC centre just go there to take porridge, sing songs and play and their parents pay for these.

Value of ECEC and rationale for government investment
Benefits of early investment
Social changes
The situation of ECEC in African countries
The current situation of ECEC in Tanzania
The provision of funds from the government to preschools
Qualifications of teachers and professional development
Parents and community involvement in early childhood education and care
Socio-economic status of parents
Degree of enrolment of young children to ECEC settings
Conclusion

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