Early Childhood Development
The attendance rate of children who are 3 to 6 years of age, in the kindergarten and preschool system, is still very low about 49.2% in urban areas and 34.7 % in rural areas.
Kindergarten buildings are in poor condition and short of supplies, furniture and didactic materials. In addition, many kindergarten teachers do not have the professional skills required for a positive process of learning and development of preschool children, as required by many parents.
Early education can build a strong foundation for young children's development and ensure that children have all they need to thrive. This principle drives Save the Children’s Early Childhood Education Program to promote policies and practices that enhance child development and improve the services offered to kindergarten and preschool children.
To improve services for children 3-6 ages, Save the Children‘s in Albania Early Childhood Education Programme (ECD) supports and increases the capacities of teachers, education specialists and parents in 6 regions.
The trained teachers and education specialists transfer their knowledge and skills and provide on-the-job-training, information and support to other teachers, in their 60 ECD project included institutions, on various issues concerning children’s’ development and inclusive teaching methods.
The enhanced professional capacities as well as parents’ cooperation is an important component of this project and encourages a better response to children’s individual pace of development and socialization.
To further improve services offered to children and enhance their development and education, SCiA is working in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Sciences to advance the development of the ECD curricula. This intervention intends to enable children who attend kindergarten, including the marginalized, to improve their academic and non-academic skills and have an environment that promotes play and non-competitiveness.