Boost for campaign to make preschool education a right for every child

Children at an early childhood development and education centre at Matuga subcounty in Kwale County, Kenya (Theirworld/Dennis Mwangi)

Everyone agrees that preschool education is crucial for children. A United Nations agreement in 2022 called for all countries to invest 10% of their education budgets in the early years and provide at least one year of free pre-primary learning.

Despite this, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) currently says nothing about the right to preschool education.

Countries around the world are working to change that and ensure the right to free and compulsory pre-primary learning for every child is enshrined in the CRC, in the same way that primary school education is.

The campaign to update the convention has been led by the Dominican Republic, Luxembourg and Sierra Leone. More than 50 countries have now announced their support.

The burning issue was discussed last week at the UN Human Rights Council’s annual meeting on the rights of the child in Geneva, where this year’s theme was early childhood development.

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the event: “We must all work together to provide children with the best possible chances in life. A child’s early years are a vital window of opportunity and their life chances should not depend on luck.”

Vlad, a 13-year-old child rights advocate from Moldova, spoke about the importance of early years care and education. He said: “Basic needs such as food, care and affection, communication and education must be provided for every child without exception. Raising a child is not a math test that you can retake it if you haven’t done it right the first time.”

The Geneva event is a vital stepping stone towards the right to preschool education being included in the CRC. The next step will come in September, when the first official move begins to consider and draft the proposed update to the convention. That will offer an opportunity to link child rights to financing – with governments investing in the early years and financing plans to improve preschool education.

Apart from the campaigning countries, call for change have also come from a global coalition of non-profits, supported by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Bede Sheppard, Deputy Child Rights Director at HRW, was at the HRC’s Geneva meeting. He said: “It’s encouraging to see growing interest and support for the idea of a new treaty to strengthen the right to education.

“In the current challenging global environment, it’s powerful to see countries coming together to work to improve the lives of children through increased access to free education.”

Sheppard said all UN member states will be invited to meet in September to formally consider and draft an updated treaty. He added: “For the first time ever, children will also participate in this process. This is truly groundbreaking.”

About 85% of children worldwide complete primary school. But less than half have access to pre-primary education, even though at least 106 countries guarantee one year of free pre-primary in their domestic laws.

The Act For Early Years campaign has been calling for all countries to invest at least 10% of their education budgets in pre-primary education. Children who go to preschool are nearly 50% more likely to finish high school, no matter their background.

Gaining the universal right to preschool would be an important step. But that needs to be backed with tangible commitments from countries and donors, including delivering on the 10% budget commitment, investing in a fully-trained, qualified and funded early years workforce, and prioritising and tracking early years investments in all aid budgets and programmes.