Young Lives evidence has directly informed the roll-out and strengthening of pre-primary education in Ethiopia, through the large-scale expansion of the ‘O-class’, pre-primary or early child development (ECD) programme over the past decade.

Young Lives has provided advice to the Ethiopian Ministry of Education since 2015 on strengthening the training of ECD teachers and improving the development of an age-appropriate curriculum and pedagogical materials. Notably, our evidence has demonstrated the benefit of single age O-classes, rather than teaching classes with children of all ages. 

Access to O-class pre-primary education has increased from a virtually non-existent baseline in 2015, to over one million 6-year olds in 2021/22, representing 40% of children that age. With a further 1.2 million children attending O-classes in 2020/21, predominantly over the age of 6, there is considerable scope for further increasing both the number and proportion of children attending at the appropriate age.