From the moment a child is born in the slums, they face the daily hardship of malnutrition, lack of healthcare and education. In 2013, 1.2 billion people throughout the world lived on less than $2.00 a day. These children are less healthy and language skills are less developed. The result of the lack of access to education is debilitating and life-long.
It is expected that over one million children under the age of six living in slums do not get a quality education to prepare them for primary school and to be competitive. When one group of children go to school, another group of children flood the streets to look for work. For these children school is out of reach.
They are burdened with adult responsibilities from an early age. They work for their own survival and for the financial survival of their families or the people they are living with. Most parents are faced with the difficult choice of a child continuing their education or helping the family survive by going to work.
Research is proving in Bangladesh and abroad that show that beginning their lives with a quality preschool education will have multiply advances. It motivates and prepares children to attend primary school, provides parents with information about new approaches to education and prepares them to support their children’s schooling experience. Preschool attendance improves children’s enrollment and retention rates and academic performance in primary school and beyond.
