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

Pamela Jakiela, Owen Ozier, Lia C.H. Fernald and Heather A. Knauer

Journal of Development Economics, 2024, vol. 171, issue C

Abstract: 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-of-school 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.

Keywords: Preschool; Early childhood; Preprimary education; Human capital; School readiness; Early literacy; Mother tongue instruction; Instrumental variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 I25 J24 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Working Paper: Preprimary Education and Early Childhood Development: Evidence from Government Schools in Rural Kenya (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:171:y:2024:i:c:s0304387824000865

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103337

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