Rising from the “Ashes”: Quality Early Childhood Education as a Panacea for National Development in Sierra Leone

Abstract

The importance of early childhood education has now become the major focus of policy-making in national development agendas in many advanced and majority of poor economies. This push is based on overwhelming research evidence that quality early education builds strong foundation for further learning and reduces economic and social inequalities (Heckman JJ, Investing in disadvantaged young children is an economically efficient policy. Paper presented at the Committee for Economic Development, New York. Retrieved April 16, 2016, from http://jenni.uchicago.edu/Australia/invest-disadv_2005-12-22_247pm_awb.pdf, 2006; Heckman JJ, Moon SH, Pinto R, Savelyev P, Yavitz A, A new cost-benefit and rate of return analysis for the Perry preschool program: a summary, working paper. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w16180.pdf, 2010). In Sierra Leone in West Africa, early childhood education is at an embryonic stage, and there are many issues that have impacted on its lack of advancement. This chapter explores the nature of early childhood development and education by focusing on the barriers and possibilities and to place it in center stage in the postwar reconstruction of Sierra Leone. This chapter argued that in a country influenced by a past, present, and future landscape; indigenous tradition; and postcolonial history, a post-conflict recovery can neither ignore early childhood education nor relegate it to the lower end of policy-making in the quest for economic development and national stability.