Something strange occurred in a conference room in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in November 2022. More than 2,500 representatives from 147 nations, including heads of state, ministers, teachers, and researchers, convened under one roof to discuss children who are still unable to read, write, or, in many cases, tie their own shoes. If you believed the science in the room, the stakes were extremely high when it came to early childhood education.
The pledge they left behind seems straightforward enough: allocate at least 10% of national education funds to pre-primary education. However, the gap between that Tashkent promise and the reality on the ground feels nearly excruciating after two years of observing how governments have actually reacted.
This push’s underlying neuroscience has been established for years. The first five years of life account for about 85% of brain development, with the first three years being particularly important for the development of cognition and emotion. Since at least 2017, when its Early Moments Matter report was presented to the UN General Assembly in New York, UNICEF has been advocating for governments to allocate a tenth of their education budget to the youngest students. At that time, the science was also not novel. It’s possible that governments have always been aware of this and have opted to ignore it due to financial constraints and political considerations.
The figures show how far things are still off course. The median amount spent on pre-primary education worldwide is about 0.4% of GDP, which is less than half of the 1% that is typically advised. The situation is more dire in low-income nations, where pre-primary education accounts for only 2% of all education expenditures. In the meantime, only 20% of people in those same nations participate in pre-primary education. These numbers give the impression that the world has been conducting a silent experiment in neglect.
The gap hasn’t been filled by foreign aid. Following the pandemic, the percentage of international education aid allocated to early childhood education fell to just 1.1%, far below the agreed-upon 10% target, according to Cambridge research published in 2023. raising concerns about the sincerity of wealthy countries’ financial readiness to support these pledges, which they loudly promote in conference rooms.
The crisis was given a distinct face in the 2024 joint UNESCO and UNICEF report, which was the first of a planned biennial global review. By 2030, more than 300 million kids won’t be able to read at a minimum level if immediate action isn’t taken. Globally, six million more educators are required. Currently, only 46 of 194 nations offer free pre-primary education. These are children growing up with limited opportunities; they are not abstract statistics.
It’s difficult to ignore the fact that there is a genuine urgency but little political will. Numerous governments, including UNESCO, UNICEF, and Theirworld, have supported the 10% goal. However, a small portion of that amount is still being allocated by the majority of those governments. International targets that create goodwill in Geneva or Tashkent but fall apart somewhere between the signing ceremony and the national treasury are a common pattern.
However, something might be changing. The first worldwide report on early childhood care and education, the issue’s increasing prominence in G20 talks, and the persistent advocacy of groups like Theirworld indicate that the discourse is developing. It is genuinely unclear if that discussion will eventually result in actual policy with actual funding. However, science consistently reminds us that the window is not always open.
