Quality and Inequality in Pre-Primary and Home Environment Inputs to Early ChildhoodDevelopment in Egypt

By the time children in low- and middle-income countries start primary school, largesocioeconomic disparities are evident in children’s learning and development. Both pre-primary and home environments canplay important roles in influencing school readiness and can contribute to disparities in early childhood development,but there is limited evidence on their relative roles in low- and middle-income countries. This paper examines howpre-primary quality, stimulation at home, and early childhood development vary by socioeconomic status forpre-primary students in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The results demonstrate substantial socioeconomic inequality instimulation at home, more so than in pre-primary quality and inputs, although there is variation in the degree ofinequality across different dimensions of pre-primary quality. “Double inequality” is observed, where studentswith less stimulating home environments experience slightly lower quality pre-primary inputs. There are particularlylarge pre-primary inequities in structural quality (physical environment) and less inequity in process quality(pedagogy). These results suggest that targeted investments in pre-primary education in Egypt are necessary to reduceinequality in school readiness but are likely insufficient to close the socioeconomic status gap in children’sdevelopment. Investing in interventions to improve vulnerable children’s home learning environments, as well asinvesting in quality pre-primary, is critical to address disparities in children’s development.