The African Center for Early Childhood Development (AfC-ECD), on June 3, 2025, held a dissemination workshop to share the findings of the study titled “Developmental Milestones and School Readiness Assessment of Children Enrolled in Pre-primary Schools in Addis Ababa.”
The dissemination workshop was attended by Head of Addis Ababa City Bureau of Education, Dr Zelalem Multatu, Deputy Head of the Bureau, Ato Wondimu Oumer, and educational sector stakeholders of the Addis Ababa City Administration comprising teachers, school principals, and others drawn from pertinent bodies.

At the occasion, Dr. Sintayehu Abate, AfC-ECD Senior Research Advisor, presented key assessment findings to participants of the workshop, where he stated that the study covered 26 pre-primary schools and it aimed at conducting a scientific assessment on the developmental milestones and school readiness in Addis.

According to the senior research advisor, the core domains assessed in the study are cognitive development, language and communication, motor skills, and socio-emotional development of preprimary school children in the city.
The study showed that the developmental status of children aged four to six in Addis Ababa provides a comprehensive analysis of child development trends across the city’s sub-cities, highlighting both encouraging outcomes and areas requiring further attention.

The findings indicate that while most children are meeting expected developmental milestones, there is variation within the sample that underscores the need to continue targeted interventions to support those showing developmental delays.

He also indicated that a noteworthy improvement was shown in school readiness activities in Addis Ababa.

Head of the Education Bureau of Addis Ababa City Administration, Dr. Zelalem Mulatu, who was present at the dissemination workshop and moderated the discussion at the occasion, accentuated that early learning as part of the Early Childhood Development Program of the city is well in progress and commendable results are registered around the program so far.

The Bureau indicated that the city administration has showed its commitment by allocating a substantial budget for the program to fulfill the necessary logistics, preprimary school workforce capacity building to transform the process further and urged the participants to continue their unwavering efforts to accomplish a great deal even further in the time to come.

Dr. Kebede Worku, CEO of AfC-ECD, said that as part of the center’s core function, the assessment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the play-based early learning pedagogy being implemented in pre-primary schools. He also marked that there are substantial changes.
Furthermore, the CEO indicated that the center will continue to support the sector in accordance with the study’s recommendations and engage in a number of follow-up initiatives, such as capacity building, jointly with relevant stakeholders.

He also thanked SPMO, the city’s Bureau of Education (BoE), the participants, and other partners who helped make the assessment a reality and its dissemination.