PAPSE

Should LMICs Build Preschools or Improve Primary Education? Experimental Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire (joint with S. Maiga & P. A. Yeo)

Funded by the Global Partnership for Education, 2018-2023

Project description

In low- and middle-income countries, 250 million children under 5 are at risk of not reaching their full developmental potential (Black et al., 2017). These differences in development have multiple causes, including an insufficient level of cognitive stimulation, dietary deficiencies, chronic infections, and so on. Indeed, the prolonged exposure of a young child to one or more of these problems can cause changes in brain structure and function and slow the child’s development (Walker et al., 2011). In the medium term, affected children are more likely to perform poorly in school and to drop out early. In the longer term, they tend to have lower incomes and higher fertility rates. Additionally, their children are more likely to face the same development issues, thus contributing to the intergenerational transmission of poverty (Grantham-McGregor et al., 2007).

Investing in the development of disadvantaged children from an early age is likely to limit the number of developmentally delayed children and the significant societal costs associated with them, thereby breaking the cycle of reproduction of inequality (Heckman, 2006). In this regard, investing in preschools for children aged 3 to 5 is often viewed as a particularly efficient solution. As a matter of fact, a growing number of studies show the positive impact of these institutions (see Duncan and Magnuson (2013) for a meta-analysis of studies on the US). Indeed, the curriculum followed by these preschools (generally centred on the exploration of written and spoken language, creative and motor activities, etc.) coupled with prolonged interactions with other children may be more likely to foster the development of children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Preschools can also help ensure that some of the children’s basic nutritional needs are met and that they have access to basic care.

This project aims to measure and compare the effectiveness of community-based preschools and of a program aiming to enhance learning conditions during the first years of primary school (by improving teaching practices, financial incentives for primary schools, and material learning conditions). To do so, 136 localities located in the most disadvantaged regions of the country were included in our sample and randomly selected to be in one of four groups: a) preschool intervention only; b) primary school intervention only; c) preschool and primary school interventions; d) no intervention.

A first set of follow-up data was collected two years after the start of the interventions (summer 2021, results forthcoming); a second round of follow-up data will be collected two years later (summer 2023).