04/06/2025
AfC-ECD Holds Dissemination Workshop on Preprimary Children Developmental Milestones and School Readiness Assessment Finding in Addis Ababa
The African Center for Early Childhood Development (AfC-ECD), on June 3, 2025, held a dissemination workshop to share the findings of the study it conducted titled “Developmental Milestones and School Readiness Assessment of Children Enrollment in Pre-primary Schools in Addis Ababa.”
The dissemination workshop was attended by educational sector stakeholders of the Addis Ababa City Administration comprising teachers, school principal, city education bureau officials and other drawn from pertinent bodies.
At the occasion, Sintayehu Abate (Ph.D.), AfC-ECD Senior Research Advisor, presented the key assessment findings to participants of the workshop where he stated that the study covered 26 pre-primary schools and it aimed at conducting a scientific assessment on the developmental milestones and school readiness in Addis.
According to the Senior Research Advisor, the core domains assessed in the study are: the cognitive development, language and communication, motor skills, socio-emotional development of the preprimary school children in the city.
He said that the study on the developmental status of children under three years of age in Addis Ababa provides a comprehensive analysis of child development trends across the city's sub-cities, highlighting both encouraging outcomes and areas requiring further attention. “The findings indicate that 87.95% of children are “on-track”, meeting the expected developmental milestones, while 12.05% are “off-track.”
The findings indicate that while most children are meeting expected developmental milestones, there is variation within the sample that underscores the need for targeted interventions to support those showing developmental delays.
He also indicated that a noteworthy improvement was shown in school readiness activities in Addis Ababa.
Head of the Education Bureau of Addis Ababa City Administration Dr. Zelalem Mulatu, who was present at the dissemination workshop and moderated the discussion at the occasion, accentuated that early learning as part of the Early Childhood Development Program of the city is well in progress and commendable results are registered around the program so far.
The Bureau indicated that the city administration has showed its commitment by allocating a significant budget for the program and providing various support including evaluation and monitoring, capacity building training to transform the process further and urged the participants to continue their unwavering efforts to accomplish a great deal even further in the time to come.
Dr. Kebede Worku, CEO of AfC-ECD, on his part said that as part of his center’s core function, the assessment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the play-based early learning method being implemented in pre-primary schools in the city to bring about the overall development of children and their readiness to effectively join primary schools.
Furthermore, apart from its research works the CEO said that the center may carry out various follow up activities, including capacity building, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders based on the recommendations presented in the study.
He also extended his thanks to participants, the city’s Bureau of Education (BoE), SPMO, and other partners that have contributed to the realization of the assessment and its dissemination.
Dr. Meseret Zelalem, Deputy CEO of the African Center for Early Childhood Development (AfC-ECD), also expressed her gratitude to participants for their continued and solid support to her center.
The Deputy CEO extended her special thanks to Dr. Zelalem Mulatu, his Deputy Ato Wendimu Oumer, Dr. Kebede Worku and the Van Leer Foundation for their technical and financial support for the successful completion of assessment.
Also at the workshop, participants forwarded various questions during the discussion session moderated by Dr. Zelalem and responses were given by himself, Dr. Kebede Worku and Dr. Sintayehu.
