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In England, Early year’s education is an integral component of the formal education system and, is available to children from birth to five years in a variety of educational settings, such as; state (maintained) sector, or to the private, voluntary or independent (PVI) sectors (Gambaro, Stewart, Waldfogel, 2014). Each setting is required by law to adhere to the statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, which set the standards for learning, development and care for all children (Gov.UK, 2014). In contrast, early year’s education in Tanzania is only provided by the government for children aged five to six years; unlike England, where children below the age of five are considered eligible for free early years education.

 

Of particular interest is the absence of government funding and little policy regarding education for children under five in Tanzania. In 2010 the national strategy for growth and reduction of poverty, committed itself to the development of Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD). The policy aimed to address the needs of ‘All’ young children and the provision of education for under-fives (UNESCO. 2014). However, the implementation of this policy has yet to be seen; this could be due to many factors. According to UNESCO 36% of Tanzanian households live below the basic needs poverty line and 76% live in rural areas where basic needs and infrastructure are poor. As a result many families cannot afford early year’s education for their children and the long distances to the EYE centres that do exist are not feasible for children under five. Subsequently, the provision of EYE for under-fives has little meaning when the majority of families cannot afford to reach them. Conversely in England, EYE centres are widely available with various schemes in place to support low income families.

 

In response to the lack of early year’s educational facilities, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) such as ‘SOS Children Villages’ and Plan, have constructed various EYE centres. However, from the research conducted it is apparent that most NGO’s are more focused on providing healthcare to children. According to ‘Save the Children’ nearly half of under-fives are mentally and physically challenged due to malnutrition. It could be interpreted then, that the provision of EYE centres are not seen as a main priority in comparison to healthcare provision.

It is also important to note that early year’s education starts long before a child attends a preschool setting. Therefore, parents and carers play a vital role in the child’s overall and educational development (Giardiello and McNulty. 2009). In England, the 2004 government paper Every Child Matters: Change for Children recognised the importance of parental/carer involvement from birth and recognised that early years settings play an important part in educational achievement and well-being. However, in Tanzania the importance of early year’s education is not being fully recognised by the Tanzanian government or parents. In this clip you can see how the NGO UNICEF are promoting the importance of EYE and how parents can support their children.

 

To conclude, it is evident to see that there are no similarities between the provision of EYE in England and Tanzania. And that, unlike England, Tanzania are yet to understand the importance of EYE. However, the government may have just prioritised the provision of health services over EYE.

 

 

By Elisha Majer

 

 

 

                Video Analyses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References for Comparison

 

 

References for Video Analyses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A comparison of the provision of Early Years Education in Tanzania and England.

For my video analyses I will be analysing a video created by the non-governmental organisation UNICEF. UNICEF’s ethos focuses on the five ‘big dangers’ faced by children all over the world, these are; Violence, exploitation and abuse, Disease, Hunger and malnutrition, War and conflict, Disaster. It is important to note that UNICEF play a significant role in the promotion of Early Childhood Education, via the construction of Centres, funding and the running of such Centres and ECE-based research.

 

This video addresses how community volunteers in the Kibaha District with the help of UNICEF are promoting the importance of early year’s education in an attempt to change the attitudes parents/carers have towards education for children under the age of three. Upon first viewing the video it seems that this rural village is in an economically deprived area; building infrastructure is poor and there seems to be few amenities. According to Moulton (2001) primary age children in rural areas of Tanzania struggle to get an adequate education due to long distances and inadequate facilities. If this is the case for children of primary school age then it could be interpreted that children below the age of five are not receiving any form of education.

 

Since the adoption of the 1989 policy ‘Rights of the Child’, the importance of early year’s education (EYE) has slowly filtered throughout Tanzania. However, a lot more needs to be done to educate people on the importance of EYE. Bakuza (2000) states that “There is a need to start up a national dialogue on the upbringing of the Tanzanian child”. According to ‘ Early Childhood Matters’ (2008)  getting parents/carers to recognise the importance of early year’s education and overall childhood development is more of an ideal than a reality. However, the video suggests that with the help of UNICEF and community volunteer’s parents are beginning to realise the benefits of an early education. In the first thirty seconds of the video it is apparent that parents were unaware of the benefits that toys and parental interaction has on the well-being, social skills and developmental progression of their children. This suggests that parents may be unaware of the parental responsibilities that are required of them. Additionally, the volunteers are providing knowledge to parents on health issues such as sanitation, good nutrition and hygiene.

 

By Elisha Majer

 

 

 

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