Longer-run effects of expanding early childhood education in rural Indonesia

Abstraksi

We assess the impact of rolling out increased access to playgroups (PAUD) in rural Indonesia on child development in early primary school. Under the Early Childhood Education and Development Project, villages received community-awareness-raising activities on the importance of investing in early childhood, a block grant of 18,000 USD and training for 2 teachers to set up community-based playgroups. Using data on two cohorts of children (aged 1 and 4 when we first start tracking them), we assess the impact on children who were in the target age (the 4 year olds) when the project had just started, and children who were in the target age when the project was fully operational (the 1 year olds). By doing so we are able to examine how impacts change as interventions change. Children who were in the target age range when the project just started tended to enroll at a later age. As a result they have better socio-emotional development skills but score worse on tests of cognitive skills while in primary school. In contrast, children who were exposed to a fully operational project at the right age, scored higher on language and cognitive development, social competence and displayed higher math test scores but had poorer communication skills. The results indicate that while increased access to playgroups can have positive impacts, these are largest when the intervention is timed correctly for the child’s age and a poorly timed early intervention can have adverse effects.