Access to quality Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCE) is essential for children's long-term learning. Ethiopia has made policy strides—including a national ECCE framework (2010), a revised ECDE policy, and new commitments in the 2023 Education and Training Policy—but major gaps persist. Nearly 60% of children lack access to pre-primary education, and where services exist, quality is undermined by limited resources and a shortage of trained facilitators. Conflict in the north has further damaged facilities, lowered enrolment, and raised dropout rates.

In response, the EU-funded PATHS project is improving access and quality in 21 conflict-affected schools across Tigray, Amhara, and Afar. The project boosts enrolment, trains facilitators, constructs ECCE centres, localises curricula, and provides school feeding to support young learners.

Objectives

As acknowledged by the Education Sector Development Programme (ESDP) VI and the Education and Training Policy of 2023, access to pre-primary education facilitates school readiness and promotes success at the primary education level. However, 60% of children do not have access to pre-primary schools in Ethiopia. This situation worsened due to the civil war in the northern region, which resulted in schools being damaged and looted as a result of the conflict, affecting children and parents alike.

The overall objective of the project is to improve the provision of inclusive and quality pre-primary education for conflict-affected children in Ethiopia, particularly in target districts in the Tigray, Afar, and Amhara regions.

The project contributes to the following specific objectives:

• Ensuring access to quality education for children in crisis situations, specifically in pre-primary schools.

• Reducing dropout rates in primary education in conflict-affected areas.

Project Activities

• Construction and rehabilitation of ECCE centers/preschools.

• Capacity building for ECCE facilitators on the updated curriculum, Montessori pedagogy, and child safeguarding.

• Adaptation and contextualization of the ECCE curriculum in partnership with Regional Education Bureaus.

• Provision of educational and play materials for both indoor and outdoor use in ECCE centers.

• Supporting parents and caregivers in acquiring positive parenting skills.

• Implementation of Montessori training for teachers.

• Supporting advocacy and policy frameworks on early childhood development.

Expected Results

• 4,486 conflict-affected children (2,244 girls) are enrolled in preschools (1,744 in Amhara, 903 in Afar, and 1,839 in Tigray).

• Construction and rehabilitation of 21 Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) centers/preschools.

• Fifteen ECCE centers (7 in Tigray, 4 in Amhara, and 4 in Afar) have been built, renovated, and handed over to the government and communities, while the remaining 6 centers are nearing completion.

• The pool of qualified pre-primary facilitators, particularly in high-need areas, has increased.

• 135 new ECCE facilitators (2 male) participated in a 30-day teacher training program in collaboration with Colleges of Teachers’ Education (CTEs) in their respective regions.

• The ECCE curriculum has been adapted and contextualized in partnership with regional education bureaus.

• Girls have been provided with improved learning opportunities.

• School feeding has been provided for 1,839 pre-primary schoolchildren in the Tigray region.