The first 4 years of a child's life have a big impact on their future. Good early childhood development (ECD) programmes help to build language and numerical abilities that lay the foundation for achievement in school and future job prospects.

The government's goal is to ensure that all children have access to quality ECD programmes by 2030. It has a fair way to go, because 2.2-million children aged 0 to 4 do not attend an ECD programme. That's 2 out of 5 of our under 5s, according to Census 2022, who will start formal school at a disadvantage to their classmates who attended playgroups, creches or pre-schools.