Overall, evidence from HICs demonstrates that attending pre-primary education, especially highquality early childhood care and education, both improves school readiness and particularly benefits disadvantaged groups (Heckman, 2006; Magnuson, Meyers, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2004; Temple & Reynolds, 2007). However, effect sizes linking quality environments with child development are small (e.g., Brunsek et al., 2017; Perlman et al., 2016), highlighting both measurement challenges in capturing the complexity of learning environments (Burchinal, 2018) and multiple influences on children’s development. Existing work in many LMICs demonstrates associations between aspects of quality in pre-primary settings and ECD (Aboud, Hossain, & O’Gara, 2008; Andrew et al., 2022; Brinkman et al., 2017; McCoy & Wolf, 2018; Mwaura, Sylva, & Malmberg, 2008; Raikes, Koziol, Davis, & Burton, 2020; Rao, 2010; Rao, Richards, Sun, Weber, & Sincovich, 2019). But similar to HICs, research in LMICs has demonstrated small but significant associations between pre-primary quality and ECD, albeit with many of the same challenges noted in research on HICs (Chen & Wolf, 2021). Given the stronger link between home environments and ECD than pre-primary quality and ECD in the literature, the quality and inequality of these inputs may have differential effects on developmental trajectories.

# **_2.4 Pre-primary and kindergartens in Egypt_**

# _2.4.1 Egypt’s pre-primary system_

At age four in Egypt, children are eligible for KG, which serves children aged 4-6. KG is not compulsory, and children can enter at either KG 1 or KG 2. The KG school-day averages five hours.<sup>7</sup> The Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) oversees KGs and provides public KG classes in public primary schools. The majority of KG enrollment is in the public sector, with private provision at 26%.<sup>8</sup> Private KGs are primarily attended by children from wealthy households (El-Kogali & Krafft, 2015). There is substantial inequality in pre-primary enrollment in Egypt in general, with children from wealthier, more educated households more likely to attend pre-primary (El-Kogali & Krafft, 2015; Krafft, 2015; Krafft & El-Kogali, 2021). For instance, only 16% of children from the poorest quintile of households attended pre-primary, compared to 65% of children from the richest quintile of households. Likewise, only 20% of children with mothers who had no education attended pre-primary compared to 65% of children with mothers with higher education (El-Kogali & Krafft, 2015).

Pre-primary enrollment in Egypt has historically been substantially below the world average but has recently been rising (Figure 1). Around 2000, the pre-primary gross enrollment rate hit 10%, and reached 28% as of 2010 but then plateaued.<sup>9</sup> The “echo” of the youth bulge, the result of the youth bulge entering childbearing age compounded by a rise in fertility in the early 2010s, placed demographic pressure on Egypt’s pre-primary and primary education system (Assaad, 2020; Krafft, 2020; Krafft & Assaad, 2014; Krafft, Assaad, & Keo, 2022).

> 7 Authors’ calculations based on KG sample data.

> 8 Authors’ calculations based on 2018/19 EMIS data. Excludes Azhari (religious) pre-primary.

> 9 According to official reports, the pre-primary gross enrollment rate was down to 22% in the 2021-2022 school year (Ministry of Education and Technical Education, 2022), possibly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

5