Bright and Early: How Financing Pre-Primary Education Gives Every Child a Fair Start in Life.

This paper shows that pre-primary education has not yet achieved the level of priority necessary in domestic policies and budgets, with nearly all low-income countries dedicating less than 5 per cent of their education budgets to pre-primary education. The most disadvantaged, marginalised and vulnerable, who stand to gain the most from investments in pre-primary education, are frequently left behind. Moreover, the international community has not kept pace to incentivise governments to invest in pre-primary education — less than 1 per cent of ODA is dedicated to pre-primary education. Major bilateral and multilateral actors are not using the little resources available to best effect to impact the most disadvantaged. This paper includes a set of recommendations on funding to ensure quality pre-primary education for all.