An Investigation Into The Major Problems That Contributed To The Failure of The Recently Innovated Community-Based Preschool Program In Rural Ethiopia
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Date
1996-06
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Addis Ababauniversity
Abstract
Community-based preschool program (CBPP) was intended to
provide care and educational services to rural preschool age
children who were entirely devoid of the opportunity. The
program was expected to address the stressful familial and
extra-familial environment in which the children live through
collective community action (community-based approach). This
recent educational innovation to rural areas, however, failed
to achieve its objective after consuming considerable size of
the meagre resource available.
This study was therefore conducted to investigate into
problems (factors) that account for the failurite of the
program by giving due emphasis to those related to the
innovation process followed. They are (1) whether or not
preliminary needs assessment has been made for innovating the
program; (2) community's awareness of the significance. of the
program; (3) problems related to administrative coordination
and resource input in implementing the programs and (4)
whether or not follow up (evaluation) has been made for the
program.
Questionnaires, interviews and observation checklist were
employed for the purpose of data collection. Relevant
documents have also been consulted to substantiate the
information gathered through these instruments. The excoordinators
of the program at various levels (National, Zonal
and District)" teachers, the ex-committees for preschool
affairs and the randomly selected community members from rural
villages were used as the subjects of the study. Such
statistical means as percentage system, mean values, weighted
ranking, and the t-test have been employed for analysing the
data gathered.
After a therough investigations have been made on the
assumptions raised the findings obtained made clear (1) lack
of appropriate needs assessment for innovating the program to
rural areas; (2) community's lack of awareness about the
significance of the program; (3) prevalence of administrative
problems (e.g. absence of important administrative mechanisms
for operating the program; lack of bottom-top-bottom
coordination of activities; inability of different parties who
were expected to promote the implementation of the program to
carry out their tasks; inappropriate and inadequate human,
material and financial resource inputs; and (4) lack of
systematic follow up during the implementation of the program.
Finally, as a measure towards the revival of this failure
program and also its diffusion to other rural areas of the
country, some recommendations have been forwarded among which
(a) priority attention be given to educate the rural community
through possible means (e.g. adult education; mass media,
etc.) before or parallel to the provision of preschool
program, (b) encouragement of community participation in the
evolution and growth of the program; (c) encouragement of
private investors and organizations to take part in meeting
the social and educational needs of preschool
age rural children; (d) to practice such an educational
innovation (as CBPP) on limited scale in some rural villages;
are the main
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Keywords
Recently Innovated Community-Based Preschool Program