IDB approved $75 million to improve early education in Chile Education

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a loan of $75 million to finance a program that will contribute to the improvement of conditions for the development of girls and boys up to four years old in Chile through the expansion of daycare and pre-school centers. The new slots will incorporate high standards in infrastructure, equipment and services provided.

The objectives of the Program for the Expansion and Improvement of Early Education include reducing the gap in care by expanding coverage, especially for Chilean families with fewer socio-economic resources, and contributing to the implementation of a high-quality agenda through activities that improve the performance of teachers and the quality of education.

The program will finance the construction and equipment of approximately 150 early education centers, with about 222 daycare centers and 195 pre-school centers.

Construction of the new centers will meet the guidelines, norms and models established by the Ministry of Education and the National Kindergarten Board to facilitate comprehensive learning solutions, including a high degree of adaption of buildings to the biopsychosocial characteristics of the children, to their activities and to the deployment of teaching procedures that help children to achieve their maximum potential.

The program also will support an effort to improve pre-school education, the establishment of a system of georeferencing the pre-school centers, the strengthening of teaching and administrative practices at the centers of the National Kindergarten Board, and the evaluation of the program.

Among the results of these activities will be a proposal for a strategy to reduce the gap between the current centers and the establishments to be built with the new standards, which will guide the country's actions in this area in coming years. The program also will create new places for 4,500 children in daycare centers and 4,700 new places in early education centers, and will provide training to 8,000 teachers and technicians.

The $75 million IDB loan is payable in 15 years, with a four-year grace period, an interest rate based on LIBOR and $75 million in local matching funds.