Understanding Parental Engagement in Early Childhood Education in Ethiopia: Perceptions, Practices, and Challenges

Ethiopia has made significant investments in early education programs since 2010. A national goal set by the government of Ethiopia aimed to enroll 80% children below the age of 6 years in kindergarten-level “O-classes.” However, effective partnerships with communities and families are required to achieve this goal. This study explores parental engagement in early education initiatives and how parents engage in early learning activities at home. The study involved in-depth interviews of parents (n = 20) from the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The interviews were conducted in Tigrinya and later translated into English. Interviews were textually analyzed to identify themes and patterns in the data. While parents acknowledged early learning as important, their own playful engagement with children was low. Parents reported limited engagement was largely a result of time and money constraints as well as perceptions of learning as a strictly academic process. Additionally, parents reported limited knowledge of child-appropriate stories, songs, and games to use with their young children. Major barriers for attendance at the center-based early education programs identified by parents included issues of road safety, distance to the preschool center, and the hygiene conditions at the preschool centers.