Attachments
Introduction
A young child’s brain is full of innate potential, and the early years offer an irreplaceable window of opportunity to set a path towards success in primary school and later in life. Quality early childhood education generates a positive sequence of learning – while lack of access to pre-primary education widens achievement gaps and restricts opportunities. Children who fall behind at a young age often never catch up with their peers, perpetuating cycles of underachievement and high dropout rates that continue to harm vulnerable children into their youth.
Today, 50 per cent of pre-primary-age children around the world – at least 175 million – are not enrolled during these crucial years in pre-primary education. In low-income countries, only one in every five children has access to pre-primary education. Those who are the least likely to attend early childhood education programmes would benefit from them the most.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and target 4.2 specifically, convey a clear objective that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education. This global report confirms the importance of early childhood education in achieving SDG 4 and supports a bold challenge: Provide all children with at least one year of quality pre-primary education by 2030.
The reasons for this aspiration are clear, as a solid body of evidence shows that the foundations for learning are largely built in the early years of life, before a child ever crosses the threshold of a primary school.
In recent proposals on how to achieve universal education at all levels, the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (the Education Commission), the World Development Report and the Global Education Monitoring Reports3,4,5 have all emphasized that investments in early childhood education have positive returns not only for individual children but also for building more efficient and effective education systems. Yet, currently, both domestic financing and international aid invested in pre-primary education are poorly targeted and grossly inadequate. This represents one of the greatest missed opportunities to nurture the world’s human capital and help children reach their fullest potential.
Based on comprehensive, data-driven analysis, this report examines the current status of pre-primary education and offers a practical vision for expanding equitable access and improving quality. Recognizing that many countries, especially low- and lower-middle-income countries, are at the beginning of this journey, providing universal access to pre-primary education in all countries by 2030 requires a realistic yet bold approach.