Heckman (2000) goes on to say—
We cannot afford to postpone investing in children until they become
adults nor can we wait until they reach school—a time when it may be
too late to intervene.Achieving improvements in early child development will be par-
ticularly challenging in developing countries. In Africa alone, for ex-
ample:
- More than 20 percent of 140 million children are at very high
risk for poor development. - More than 95 percent of these young children do not have ac-
cess to ECD programs that provide healthy environments, good
nutrition, and stimulation. - The children who do not attend school constitute nearly 50 per-
cent of all of the world’s children who do not attend school. - Orphans will comprise 20 percent of all children under age 15
years—in 12 countries devastated by AIDS, war, and civil strife.
International agencies, including the World Bank, United Nations,
and other organizations, must increase their support and leadership
to assist these countries in closing the gap between what we knowand
what we doabout early child development.
With 50 percent of the populations in Canada and the United
States showing poor literacy, industrialized countries also must ex-
pand their investments and efforts in early child development to im-
prove the competence and quality of their populations—and to help
demonstrate how best to apply the knowledge being gained to ECD
programs throughout the world.
All countries must work together to close the gap in early child devel-
opment and to improve the health, well-being, and competence of the
world’s populations. This is very important for our continuing experi-
ments in civilization.Scientific Underpinnings of the Importance of ECD in a Global World 81