Thursday, April 11 2019 19:20

ArmInfo.In Armenia, more than 171,000 children under the age of 5 do not attend kindergarten, being part of the 175 million children in the world who have not received  pre- school education.

This was stated by Alvard Poghosyan, a specialist in education and early child development, presenting Armenia's figures, published in a UNICEF report.In its new report, UNICEF warns that the shortage of pre-school education was due to a  lack of investment and, in fact, from the earliest years, these  children suffer from deep-seated inequality.

Children enrolled in preschool education, more than twice as fast master initial literacy  and numeracy skills than children who did not receive it.In  low-income countries, which includes Armenia, only 1 in 5 children  attend pre-school education.

"In low-income countries only 2 out of 10 children go to  kindergarten, the same indicator is registered in rural areas of  Armenia. Despite the fact that the situation in the cities of Armenia  is comparatively better, however, only 4 out of 10 children attend  kindergartens, "Pogosyan noted.

According to the report, children  whose mothers received a secondary or higher education, the  probability of enrollment in pre-school education programs is almost  five times higher than children whose mothers either received only  primary education or do not have any formal education at  all.According to the latest data of the Statistics Committee of the  Republic of Armenia, the main reasons for refusing to attend  kindergarten are the unemployed mother of a child.- 53%, absence of  kindergarten - 28%, high cost of stay in kindergartens - 4%."In  Armenia, 9.8% of residents living in extreme poverty answered that  the nearest pre-school institution is more than 10 km away, which is  beyond their means," Pogosyan explained.

As noted in the report, the main factors affecting the attendance of  a preschool institution are household welfare, the educational level  of the mother, and geographic location. At the same time, poverty  remains the single most important determinant."If current governments  want their countries to be competitive in tomorrow's economy, they  need to start with pre-school education," said UNICEF Executive  Director Henrietta Foret. "If we are going to give our children a  good start in life so that they will be successful in a globalized  economy, state leaders should prioritize pre-school education and  allocate sufficient resources for it".

UNICEF urges governments to  make at least one year universal high-quality pre-school education,  turning it into a regular component of education for each child,  especially for the most vulnerable and marginalized children.In order  to put this into practice, UNICEF urges governments to commit  themselves to allocating at least 10 percent in national education  budgets for expanding pre-primary education and investing in  teachers, quality standards and equitable expansion of educational  opportunities.