Opportunities, benefits and challenges of implementing preschool education in Ethiopia

Preschool or Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) prepares children for formal education, creating a strong and wide basis for lifelong learning and well-being. Thus, the present investigation investigated the available opportunities, advantages, and challenges of implementing preschool education in Ethiopia’s Amhara regional state. For achieving this purpose, a case study design was used with forty people, providing qualitative data. As a result, the startup of ECCE in government schools, the availability of ECCE policy and the positive attitudes of the children, community and parents found opportunities for implementing ECCE. Through ECCE, children can benefit from exploring their surrounding environment, sharing social life and reducing dropout rates. However, the implementation of ECCE was challenged by poor policy implementation, weak institutional collaboration, inadequate teaching and learning resources, lack of infrastructures, developmentally inappropriate education curriculum and deficiency of proper professional development of teachers and caregivers. The study’s findings have significant implications for the advancement of the preschool program by informing policymakers and educators about opportunities, benefits and challenges of implementing ECCE, which result in improving early childhood learning environments, improving teacher training, and better allocating resources to support children’s developmental needs and achieving Sustainable Development Goal-4 (quality education).