Abstract
Universally, research shows that early childhood education (ECE) contributes to children's development in the very early years. Governments among developed countries subsidize an ample amount of money for children's early education development to generate and enhance human capital. Consequently, in developing countries like Bangladesh, ECE is driven by the family, where family socio-economic conditions make a significant contribution to children's transition from home to school, and to ensure their children begin school at a very early age. This qualitative case study explores parental socio-economic aspirations and the phenomena of ECE initiatives by the government for child transitions from home to schools in Bangladesh. This empirical research contributes by placing parental aspirations for child schooling and focusing on the information-gathering actions by parents in line with the social conditions that inspire parents to choose schools for their children.
TopIntroduction
Investing in Early Childhood Education (ECE) is considered to be highly profitable for human resource development and the social capital of societies (Bennett & Tayler, 2006). The Dakar Framework for Action set several goals and ECE is one of them for further expansion and development in line with the policy implementation for education development in Bangladesh (Dakar, 2000). Recently ECE was given high priority and made essential in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The term, ECE refers to the formal cognitive and non-cognitive development of children from age three to five among the countries (Barnett, 1996). Globally, ECE is the bottommost prioritized funding sector in the field of education. Among the under-developed and developing countries, almost half of the children are not achieving their childhood development potentials due to timely government initiatives (UNESCO, 2014). Evans, Myers, and Ilfeld (2000) stated that children in all societies should receive equal childhood and educational support in the early years as a fundamental human right. Similarly, all children aged 3 to 5 years old should have priority in receiving pre-primary or pre-school to be better prepared for primary schooling. Without access to high-quality and excellence ECE schooling, most children tend to drop out of primary school (MoWCA, 2013).
Globally, there are debates on the universality of ECE, and whether governments should ensure universal access for all children across societies. (Barnett, Brown, Shore, & NIEER, 2004). In many countries ECE is supported by the government, as well as by the families who choose quality ECE from among the available services for children in their early years (Carneiro, & Heckman, 2003). Parents should have the freedom to choose to start their children in school as early as possible. However, economic impediments of households and government regulations often restrict that choice (Fitzpatrick, 2008). Schools with full autonomy to decide who can enroll may create social inequalities among children (Hanushek, & Woessmann, 2013). Institutional, systematic regulations may prevent parents from choosing a school for their children, and economic situations can cause more inequality among the children (Heckman, 2011). However, there are positive findings that institutional influences on child development can minimize the gap among children when parents have ample opportunities to choose among diverse ECE programs (Sylva, 1994; Aboud, 2006).
This empirical research addresses the influence of socio-economic issues on school choice, where parental expenditures on early education for children make a significant impact in ECE. Forry et al. (2013) show that parents are influenced by apparent rational cost-benefit calculations and the ability to pay for their child’s schooling. The direct expenses incurred across the diverse school types and socio-economic factors are associated with parental aspirations, as parents realize the choice of early schooling has considerable impact on children. The objectives of this chapter are to analyze parental socio-economic aspirations for school choice among the rural and urban areas of the Rajshahi Division in Bangladesh. This chapter also investigates the socio-economic factors which motivate parents to choose a school for their children, and parental perspectives for ECE school choice in the early years as children transition from home to school.
Across this chapter, the author will respond to the following two research questions: (1) How do parental aspirations limit or support school choice in ECE in Bangladesh? (2) How do parental socio-economic aspirations assist parents in managing ECE expenditure among regions in Bangladesh?
Key Terms in this Chapter
Direct Costs: The direct cost refers to the expenses of parents ought to bear for their child education, especially for the school fees, learning materials, school uniforms, and school transportation expenses for ECE schooling.
Parents/Households: The term parents and households are used interchangeably and representing the same meaning for a better understanding of the socio-economic aspects of parents. In this study, the term parental refers to both parents and guardians who are directly and indirectly involved and related to their children’s ECE Schooling.
School Readiness: The term school readiness represents the child preparation for schooling in ECE. Most of the children need to be prepared before starting their ECE schools for their success in schools and early learning. School readiness represents the children’s eligibility to enter schools irrespective of age, race, gender, and ethnicity. Preparedness is a broad terminology in this study readiness that represents the school preparation of children.
Parental Aspirations: Parental means father, mother, and extended family members who are directly and indirectly involved and responsible for their child's education in the early years. Further, the term aspirations represent a hope, desire, or ambition of achieving something. The term parental aspirations denote that parental expectations for their child education in the early years of childhood.
Early Childhood Education (ECE): This study covers the age group of 3-5 years of Children for Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Bangladesh. In 2010, the government decided for at least one-year pre-primary schooling for all children and introduced through all the government primary schools among the regions. Although there are alternative existing ECE services for the age group 3-5 years, those are providing ECE services in Bangladesh. The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines the ECE should be for all children from age three to five.
Indirect Costs: The indirect costs refer to the expenses of parents ought to bear for their child education, especially the additional school expenses, donations, school building cost, etc. Further, indirect costs also refer to the opportunity cost of parent labor and child labor for ECE schooling.