Preprimary education and early childhood development: Evidence from government schools in rural Kenya

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jakiela, Pamela; Ozier, Owen; Fernald, Lia C. H.; Knauer, Heather A.
• 署名单位: Williams College; National Center Atmospheric Research (NCAR) - USA; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103337
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: preschool; Early childhood; Preprimary education; human capital; school readiness; Early literacy; Mother tongue instruction; instrumental variables

摘要

We provide evidence on the link between enrollment in public preschool and child vocabulary, a critical precursor to early literacy. We measure early childhood development among both in-school and out-ofschool children in Kenya, allowing us to examine the association between preschool enrollment and cognitive outcomes. Children in our sample are more likely to start school at age three rather than age four if they live within a few hundred meters of the nearest primary school. Three-year-olds living closer to the school also have stronger vocabulary skills, though a similar pattern does not exist among older children. Using proximity to school as an instrument for preprimary enrollment, we find that preprimary enrollment raises mother tongue receptive vocabulary by more than one standard deviation at age three, but does not impact vocabulary at later ages.