Bekele, Abebe (PhD)Legesse, Demissie2018-08-102023-11-052018-08-102023-11-051996-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/11592Community-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 mainenRecently Innovated Community-Based Preschool ProgramThesis