Bridging gaps and scaling up a school readiness program for the child-parent-teacher triad in Bangladesh, Nepal and Tanzania

 

Despite global efforts to improve children's readiness, many children are not well prepared to start school. This project builds on the success of the “Every Newborn-Reach Up Early Education Intervention for All Children” (ENREACH) initiative, which successfully increased children’s readiness to enter pre-primary school in Bangladesh, Nepal and Tanzania with supports for both children and their caregivers.

This project will build evidence to adapt ENREACH to include teachers by enhancing the capacity of both parents and teachers. The project will explore how to improve teacher engagement and teaching competencies. Knowledge mobilization will help integrate the model into practice, reaching key stakeholders within the ministries of education in all three countries. The goal is to facilitate its transition into a government-supported program.

The research consists of a trial with preschool teachers and caregivers and targets children aged 60 to 72 months enrolled in pre-school, ensuring that those with disabilities and both boys and girls are included. The project will produce a comprehensive training package focusing on foundational skills through play-based teaching, tools for school readiness, resources for mobilization of stakeholders and a cost evaluation framework.

This project is funded under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, a joint endeavour between the GPE and IDRC to connect expertise, innovation and knowledge to help low- and middle-income countries build stronger education systems and accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal on education.