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The Cohort-Effects of Early Childhood Education in Benin

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August 26-27, 2025| Accra, Ghana

Oswald Koussihouede

Senior Education Policy Analyst and Planner at UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning

TEAM MEMBERS

Damase Sossou

Principal Evaluation Capacity Development Officer at the African Development Bank

What we will be discussing:

• Assess whether preschool has immediate or delayed impacts on reading and mathematics performance.

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• Examine variations by cohorts, gender, location (urban/rural), and socio-economic status.

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• Provide empirical evidence to guide policies on the quality and accessibility of preschool education.

MOTIVATION & BACKGROUND

• Early Childhood Education (ECE) is key for long-term learning (Heckman, 2006).

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• Evidence is scarce in low-income contexts, like Benin.
• Prior studies show delayed and heterogeneous effects (Blimpo & Pugatch, 2021; Mahdjoub et al., 2022).

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• We therefore examined whether preschool attendance in Benin improves primary school outcomes and whether cohort effects play a role.

• We demonstrate that ECE in Benin generates long-term improvements in learning outcomes:
• particularly in mathematics, but only for certain cohorts

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• Program maturity and contextual factors shape its effectiveness.

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• Underscores ECE’s role in strengthening human capital for social and economic development.

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• Advances the field by applying machine-learning techniques to large-scale PASEC assessment data.

SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS

STUDY OBJECTIVES

• Examine the long-term impact of ECE on learning outcomes in Benin, especially in mathematics.

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• Identify which cohorts benefit most and how contextual factors influence program effectiveness.

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• Fill evidence gaps on ECE in low-income settings to highlight its role in human capital development.

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• Apply innovative machine-learning methods to large-scale PASEC assessment data.

• Objective: Improve access and quality of education for children aged 2-5

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• Implementing Organizations:
• Ministry of Basic Education, Government of Benin

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• Theory of Change: Quality preschool fosters cognitive, emotional, and social development, laying the foundation for future academic success.

DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTION: PRE-SCHOOL

• Children aged 2-5 years, enrolled ECE programs, in urban and rural areas
• Emphasized the preschool phase (ages 2–3), aiming to support cognitive, social, and emotional development.
• Prioritized resource-limited rural communities.
• These children benefit from government initiatives and NGO support designed to expand access and enhance educational quality.

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Sample:

• Stratified sampling to ensure national representativeness and balance across treatment (those attending preschool) and control groups

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TARGET POPULATION & SAMPLE

METHODOLOGY

CAPTION OR PHOTO CREDIT: RIGHT HERE

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How does preschool attendance impact reading and math scores?

• Intervention: Preschool attendance (self-reported)
• Outcomes: Reading and math scores

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• Controlling for:
• Age, grade repetition, socioeconomic status, home learning environment, school infrastructure

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Data source:

• Secondary data from official PASEC surveys (CONFEMEN)

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Method: Double-Debiased Machine Learning to estimate treatment effects

RESULTS:

LARGEST EFFECTS WERE IN 2019 FOR CHILDREN IN GRADE 6

• 2014 Data:
• No significant improvement in reading, mathematics, or overall scores in Grade 2 and Grade 6 for children who attended preschool vs. those that did not

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• 2019 Data
• Cohort effect: children in 2019 had more favorable home environments, better-trained teachers, and more stable schools

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• Grade level:
• Effects emerge mainly in Grade 6, not Grade 2.
• Cohort:
• 2019 results are significant, not those of 2014, suggesting delayed and improved impact over time

RESULTS: HETEROGENEOUS EFFECTS & DISCUSSION

• Delayed effects:
• The benefits of preschool education are not immediate but emerge later in the academic journey, particularly by the end of primary school.

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• Higher-quality educational environments—better-trained teachers, stable schools, and engaged families—contribute to positive learning outcomes
• Rural areas have weak or non-significant effects vs. in urban areas where children have significant gains in reading and math in Grade 6

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• Persistent inequalities:
• Socioeconomic status matters
• Children from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially in rural areas, benefit less from the programs

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• Gender effects:
• Boys show clearer gains, especially in math

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• Improve pedagogical quality:
• Strengthen teacher training, ensure stable learning environments, and adopt child-centered curricula.

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• Reduce regional inequalities:
• Implement targeted interventions in rural and underserved areas through mobile solutions and incentives.

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• Engage families:
• Enhance parental involvement using tools and structured school-family dialogue platforms.

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• Monitor long-term effects:
• Establish longitudinal tracking systems to adjust policies based on evidence.

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• Integrate preschool into national strategies:
• Align early childhood education with broader educational reforms and development priorities.

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