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Strategy and policy
Reform Support

Supporting the expansion and strategic development of early childhood education and care in Cyprus

Supporting reforms to improve the quality of education and training systems and ensure equal access to it

Funding Programme
Year
  • 2022

Supporting the expansion and strategic development of early childhood education and care in Cyprus

The Commission was helping Cyprus to enhance the quality, affordability, accessibility and inclusiveness of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for children aged 0-6.

Context

As underlined in the Cypriot Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), some of the challenges for Cyprus regarding ECEC include a heavy reliance on informal settings and private institutions, the availability of free childcare is limited to low-income households, and a low enrolment rate for children between 0 and 3 years. Against this background, Cyprus requested technical support from the European Commission on a reform to improve its strategic policy framework for Early Childhood Education and Care.

Support Delivered

The support measures included:

  • A mapping of supply and demand of ECEC services to inform the new state-aid Scheme included in the RRP for the establishment of at least 27 Multifunctional Centres for Children, and Childcare Centres, by the end of June 2026.
  • A report on relevant good practice in ECEC from other EU Member States.
  • A comprehensive analytical study that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, and needs of the ECEC sector in Cyprus.
  • An ECEC National Quality Framework for use across the two Ministries, piloted in selected municipalities/district areas.
  • Consolidated recommendations including next steps to inform the development of a National ECEC Strategy (an RRP milestone for end 2024) and broader ECEC reforms in Cyprus.
  • A final project summary report and closing meeting detailing project activities and key lessons learned.

Result achieved

The project aimed to support Cyprus in raising the quality, affordability, accessibility and inclusiveness of ECEC by improving its strategic policy framework for early childhood education and care. This project was also directly contributing to the achievement of the Cypriot RRP by guiding investments and reforms in the ECEC sector. These include the mapping to inform the expansion (construction or refurbishment) of facilities, the development of the first national quality framework for ECEC, and a range of activities to generate the evidence required to underpin the first national ECEC Strategy due to be adopted by the Council of Ministers by the end of 2024.

Useful links

More about the project

You can read the documents related to the project here: