This blog was previously published on UNICEF's website.

Freetown – Evette Regnant sits on rows of neatly spread mats on the floor of a newly built two-classroom Early Childhood Development (ECD) center in Taiama Community in southern Sierra Leone. She is joyously flanked by cheerful preschoolers who are rhythmically chanting, “we should always wash our hands with soap before eating and after using the toilet.”

Evette has been an ECD teacher for over two years, teaching early skills and nurturing children between the ages of three and five years at the ECD center of the Roman Catholic Primary School in Taiama.

“I am a trained ECD educator, and I teach my kids literacy, numeracy, sounds, rhymes, poems and we sing and dance together to enhance their cognitive and socio-emotional development,” said Evette as she danced with the kids in their new classroom.

The availability of pre-schools to increase children’s readiness for school is quite low in Sierra Leone. Only 25 per cent of children aged 3-5 are enrolled in pre-primary education. This implies 75 per cent of eligible children are missing out on the critical opportunities which can shape their cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical development and future success.

There are only about 1,262 public pre-schools compared to 6,701 primary schools in Sierra Leone. Most 3–5-year-olds are kept at home or follow their parents to work as the costs of the pre-school tuition, uniform, lunch, and other basic materials are often out of the reach of parents.

Additionally, there is a dearth of trained and qualified ECD teachers in the country to efficiently handle pre-primary education and adequately prepare the children before they transition to primary school education.

To address this situation and increase access to pre-school education, UNICEF, with support from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and in collaboration with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, supported the capacity development, including training on play based learning and coaching of 564 (68 per cent are females) pre-primary teachers across the country between 2020 and 2023.

This has significantly increased the number of trained ECD teachers in the country.

“At the ECD training, I learnt how to take proper care of the children and teach them through play and developed a new mindset,” Evette reflected, “Before, I taught them like the older children, focusing more on rigour and discipline but at this age, the focus should be more on play and learning through curiousity. I have changed my approach.”

This training has had a profound impact on Evette to the extent that she finds it exciting and fun to simulate the children’s interests when she teaches, interacts, and nurtures them.

“I sometimes behave just like the toddlers to stimulate their interest and participation since this is their first time in school. The concepts are new, so I exaggerate sometimes,” she added with a giggle. “Singing and dancing make them happy, so they are part of the skills and methods I use to gain their attention and participation.”

Evette also recognizes the effort and support of parents in ensuring that they always take their children to the ECD center, provide them with lunch, and pick them up from school at the end of the day.

“This ECD center is changing the attitudes and behaviors of people in this community towards pre-primary education as they now see it as a training ground for learning at the primary school level,” Evette concluded as she escorted a group of children to their parents who had come to pick them up at the end of the school day.

Additionally, it will train over 10,000 pre-primary teachers and 1,000 trainee teachers and educators in Early Childhood Education. The pre-primary landscape in Sierra Leone is about to significantly change for the better.