Recent research on the effects of COVID-19 on school closures has mainly focused on primary and secondary education, with extremely limited attention to early childhood education (ECE). To address this gap, we identify the extent to which parents and caregivers with pre-primary school-aged children were engaged in their children’s learning during school closures in Ethiopia. Our focus on Ethiopia is of particular relevance given that ECE provision has expanded dramatically in recent years, aimed at ensuring children are prepared for primary school. Using data collected through a phone survey with 480 parents and caregivers, the results revealed that learning disruption due to COVID-19 school closures is likely to be substantial and will probably widen existing inequalities further. Many poorer households and those where parents or caregivers are not literate, are less likely to have child-oriented learning resources, and home learning activities between parents and children in these households are limited. The study highlights that greater attention needs to be paid to mitigate the threats of COVID-19 on Ethiopia’s recent gains in ECE, to prevent the pandemic from further reinforcing inequalities between children from advantaged and disadvantaged households.

最近关于 COVID-19 对学校停课影响的研究主要集中在小学和中学教育，对幼儿教育 (ECE) 的关注极为有限。为了解决这一差距，我们确定了埃塞俄比亚学校停课期间有学龄前儿童的父母和看护人参与孩子学习的程度。鉴于近年来 ECE 的提供急剧扩大，旨在确保儿童为小学做好准备，我们对埃塞俄比亚的关注尤为重要。使用通过对 480 名家长和看护人的电话调查收集的数据，结果显示，由于 COVID-19 学校停课造成的学习中断可能是巨大的，并且可能会进一步扩大现有的不平等。许多较贫困的家庭以及父母或看护人不识字的家庭，不太可能拥有面向儿童的学习资源，并且这些家庭中父母与孩子之间的家庭学习活动有限。该研究强调，需要更加关注减轻 COVID-19 对埃塞俄比亚最近在欧洲经委会取得进展的威胁，以防止这种流行病进一步加剧来自有利和不利家庭的儿童之间的不平等。