Rural-urban differentials in early childhood education and child development: Evidence from Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in Ghana.

Autor:	Agyekum MW; Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana., Yeboah SB; Faculty of Human and Social Studies, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania., Dzradosi C; Department of Adult Education, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana., Ofosu-Ampong K; Department of Information Technology, University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana., Quaye MO; Department of Agricultural Science Education, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana., Donkoh C; Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana., Acquah A; Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana., Dzikunu CK; Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana., Pajibo E; Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana., Yelkpieri D; Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana., Tamanja EMJ; Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana., Nsoh EA; Institute for Educational Research and Innovation Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong, Ghana.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	PLOS global public health [PLOS Glob Public Health] 2023 Aug 07; Vol. 3 (8), pp. e0002171. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Aug 07 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pgph.0002171
Abstrakt:	Children's early development is a key component that affects their wellbeing and health as they age. In recent times, scholars' interest in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Early Child Development (ECD) has grown exponentially. However, rural-urban differentials in early childhood development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and particularly in Ghana are unknown. This study examined the rural-urban differentials in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Early Child Development (ECD) in Ghana. We used cross-sectional data from 2017/2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) by the Ghana Statistical Service. We restricted the data to children aged 3 and 4 years. A sample size of 3683 children was used in this study. Poisson regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Early Child Development (ECD) in rural and urban Ghana. Both ECE and ECD scores were higher in the urban areas than in the rural areas. The regression shows the rural-urban disparity in ECD by ECE. The Preschool Program (ECE) has a good impact on children's early development in Ghana. However, the Relative Risk Ratio (RRR) in rural areas was higher than in urban areas. Beyond this, other factors such as age of child, ecological zone, maternal education and wealth index were associated with ECD. Our findings show a significant disparity in Early Childhood Education and Childhood Development in rural and urban areas This study therefore recommends that more resources be channeled in rural areas to help improve ECE and ECD while policies should be tailored to Early Childhood Education. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. (Copyright: © 2023 Agyekum et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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