Sustaining in recent years expenditureon early childhood education (ECE) at over a fifth of itseducation budget, Mongolia is a relatively high spender onpre-primary education. This report examines structural andprocess aspects of quality in Mongolian kindergartens, alongwith early development outcomes among children enrolled inthese kindergartens, to assess the effectiveness and equityof the country's public investments in ECE. Theanalysis shows that while the last decade saw tremendousprogress in improving access to preschool overall, the mostdisadvantaged and vulnerable are still excluded from thesystem. Further, an assessment of child development outcomesshows that even after significant exposure to formalpreschool services in the public sector, socioeconomic gapsin outcomes remain large. At the same time, potential areaswhere relatively low-cost investments could reap significantgains remain unexploited. Key among these is use of home- orcommunity-based ECE interventions that could improve schoolpreparedness among children in rural areas not enrolled inpreschools. Another is the potential for an expanded rolefor the private sector in urban areas.
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