Cost and Cost-Effectiveness of a Pre-Primary School Program in Kenya

We analyze the cost and cost-effectiveness of an early childhood development and education (ECDE) program in Kenya which aimed at preparing pre-primary children for primary school. A cluster randomized controlled trial design was used. Enrolled schools were provided with three different treatment packages that aimed at improving the instructional quality of ECDE centres complemented with a health component. We find that for every additional US$ 1 spent on the second treatment package, the intervention yields 0.16 extra percentage points in public ECDE centres over two years of participation. This translates to a cost of US$ 14.83 per child. Similarly, in private ECDE centres, results suggest that the yield of extra learning score per US$ 1 spent on the second treatment package is 0.36 percentage points, which translates to a cost of US$ 17.01 per child. Our findings indicate that combining the training of teachers, supervision staff, teacher support, books and teachers’ guides may be cost-effective. Hence, this pre-primary program could be scaled-up in different counties of Kenya.