The Problem Statement

An ECCE policy aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals’ framework should enable better quality early childhood care and education opportunities for all children up to the age of 8, in an equitable and inclusive manner, using trained and qualified teachers.

Uganda has an ECD policy and education law which focuses on regulation of the provision of Early Childhood Education (ECE). Under this policy, the provision of ECE is in the hands of private providers and NGOs. The effect of this policy and approach has been:

• limited access to ECE since not all children are given ECE;

• underage enrolment under UPE;

• an expensive ECE system;

• and poor learning outcomes for learners in later stages. Uganda lags behind her East African region counterparts in ECD delivery. Kenya has 53.5% access, Tanzania has 35.5% access while Uganda only had 9.5%1 access by 2014.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) considers ECCE as a key aspect of broadening inclusion for all learners in education. While the National Development Plan (NDP 11) proposes public investment in ECCE, this proposal is in line with the 2016 NIECD Policy and Uganda Vision 2040.

In order to address the above gaps, there is need to reconsider both the policy and legal stance on the delivery of ECCE. This calls for the review of the 2007 ECD Policy and the Education (Pre-Primary, Primary and Post-Primary) Act of 2008, to provide for standardised quality training and support of ECCE teachers and caregivers, and greatly improved access.

The Project Objectives

The Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has contracted Cambridge Education (CE) to review the Ugandan education sector’s 2007 policy on Early Childhood Development (ECD). The project has the following objectives:

1. To generate evidence to validate implementation of the current ECD policy.

2. To draft an ECCE policy and operational guidelines.

3. To draft an annualised 10-year costed action plan for the proposed ECCE policy.

4. To develop a Qualifications Framework and Accreditation System for ECD training with a costed implementation plan.