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Co-published by UNESCO and UNICEF, the  delivers on a commitment made at the 2022 World Conference on ECCE, when 155 countries committed to ensuring that every child gets at least one year of free, compulsory pre-primary education and to work towards dedicating at least 10% of education budgets to this crucial life stage.

“Investing in our youngest children brings the greatest returns, both socially and economically. It is the best investment a country can make. The price of inaction can be very high, as our work shows,” said Stefania Giannini, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education at the launch of the report during the Stocktake of Transformative Actions in Education event on 17 June 2024.

Ms Giannini highlighted that the efforts to get early childhood education at the top of the global agenda is paying off: 95% of countries have now reported action on ECCE since the 2022 Transforming Education Summit, up from 40% who made initial national commitments.

The advocates for the promotion of ECCE to prepare children for school. This includes developing programmes that enhance literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional skills, essential for robust educational outcomes. 

Three key action areas need particular attention: 

1. Access: We are in a learning crisis. Without immediate action, 37% of the world’s children –over 300 million – won’t reach minimum reading proficiency by 2030. To reach SDG 4.2 dedicated to early childhood learning, we need to enroll 1.4 million children every year until 2030.
2. Teacher shortages and qualifications: Many children, especially the most disadvantaged, are taught by underqualified teachers. In low-income countries, only 57% of pre-primary teachers have the necessary training. We need 6 million more pre-primary educators and teachers by 2030.
3. Funding: ECCE is severely underfunded. We need an additional [$21] twenty-one billion US Dollars annually to meet national goals for pre-primary education through to 2030.

The report presents concrete recommendations on how governments and the international community can tackle global learning and well-being challenges by promoting an integrated early childhood care and education ecosystem that better supports children and families. 

Key among these are putting young children at the centre of our policies, boosting funding from both domestic and international sources, strengthening global partnerships, and expanding the right to education to ensure every child has a solid educational foundation. 

The report also underscores the need for a legally binding international framework to establish the right to ECCE is underscored, aiming to set clear state obligations, promote accountability, and ensure adequate funding for early education sectors. This is considered as critical to preventing the deepening of the global education crisis. 

The report's key findings and recommendations were presented to stakeholders at a launch event on 17 June. The event will include discussions current initiatives under the  to promote ECCE equity and inclusion. 

The new ECCE report was published with the support of GPE, ILO, OECD and The LEGO Foundation.