Poster Presentation (Core time: 11:45-12:45)

[1R07] Analysis of the Influence of Preschool Attendance on School Readiness in Ghana

*Kaori Uchiyama¹ (1. Kobe University)

Keywords:Ghana, Early Childhood Education, School Readiness

Early childhood development has become an essential topic for academic researchers and policymakers. The early years of life are the most critical period for building school readiness. School readiness consists of early cognitive (e.g., literacy and numeracy) and non-cognitive (e.g., social-emotional skills and executive function) skills, which are the critical determinant of future success in children's later educational stages. With growing recognition of its importance, many developing countries have prioritized equitable and quality pre-primary education. Ghana is one of the countries where the government has implemented educational reform and provided free and compulsory pre-primary education to enable all children to have access. Nowadays, Ghana has the highest gross enrollment rate of 116.1% (2020) in Sub-Saharan African countries in pre-primary education. The process of developing school readiness is complicated. Previous studies show household environments, such as household social-economic status (SES; household income, parental educational level, etc.), and family involvement also play a crucial role in developing school readiness. Although many studies examine the association between preschool attendance and school readiness, a limited number of research are conducted in developing countries like African countries. Therefore, this study examined the association between preschool attendance and school readiness in Ghana by raising the following research question “To what extent does attending preschool associated with school readiness? “ This study uses the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Six (MICS 6) Ghana and demonstrated the association using Poisson regression. School readiness is measured by the Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) developed by UNICEF. This study finds that the development of school readiness is strongly associated with preschool attendance. Also, household wealth, mother’s education level, and reading activity in the households are significantly associated with school readiness. This study contributes to adding a piece of evidence to the previous studies on the importance of preschool attendance in Africa.