Qualities of Childhood: Kyrgyz Preschoolers Between Local Exigencies and Global Promises

Abstract

The contribution deals with the educational programs as they are launched by international organizations, especially the Early Child Development programs of World Bank. What are the effects of such programs on local practices and values of child rearing? It is evident that such programs are indifferent as to the local societies in which they work. It is not the local starting point in which they are interested but the global goal at which they aim. At the same time, it is not that easy to assess the quality of childhood which is produced in the interplay of global influences and local realities. Based on a study of more than hundred preschool childrens and their parents in Kyrgyzstan such an assessment is attempted and its inevitable biases are discussed.