Initiative for more investments in preschool education

Investing in children in their early childhood is the smartest investment the state can make. There are numerous socio-economic benefits from accessible, affordable, and quality preschool education institutions. Some of them include improving children's cognitive skills, increasing employment opportunities for parents (especially women), increasing productivity and job satisfaction, and the success of companies, thus contributing to the growth and diversification of the economy.

The European Commission estimates that the enrollment rate of children in BiH, in public or private institutions with accredited programs aged 3-6, is 25% and is one of the lowest in Europe. This rate is around 60% in Croatia and Serbia and is still far below the European Union's 95% target.

In 2018, in BiH, close to 60 million KM (0.16% of GDP) was spent on preschool education, of which about 41 million KM from public and about 19 million KM from private sources. For the sake of comparison, only on the section of the highway bypass around Zenica of 11 km, close to 450 million KM was spent. Many studies prove that investing in preschool education has significantly more significant effects on employment (especially women) and job quality than investment in the construction sector.

Almost 150 thousand children under the age of six in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not have access to quality educational institutions, primarily due to insufficient (public) preschool institutions. On the other hand, the capacities of private kindergartens are not filled. The stated low enrollment rate of children in preschool education is not the result of insufficient demand from parents but inadequate investment in the preschool education system.

The recently adopted FBiH Development Strategy ambitiously aims to increase the enrollment rate of children in kindergartens from the current 17% (0 to 6 years) to 80% by 2027. Republika Srpska is the Development Strategy for 2016-2021. quantified the goal of at least 30% of the total number of children who will attend preschool education. With the current incentive policies, this goal has not been achieved in the Republika Srpska, and the current rate is around 22.5%.

We call on the entity, cantonal and local authorities within their competencies to take immediate action to increase the enrollment rate of children in preschool institutions and publish measures to achieve this goal. These activities should start today to ensure an increase in investment in preschool education in BiH in the following school and budget year - whether it is about possible tax relief or an increase in budget subsidies for these purposes. In the coming period, we will monitor possible progress in this area and regularly inform the general public in BiH.

If you support this initiative as an individual, please sign HERE.

If you support this initiative as an organization / institution / company, please send a confirmation e-mail to: skrupic@cpu.org.ba.

The list of signatures will be updated on a daily basis.

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The petition was signed by another 73 people who decided not to make their data public.