In many countries, including Sri Lanka, where early childhood education or pre-primary education is not available for free, cost prevents children from low-income families from participating, Human Rights Watch has said.
“Although at least 68 percent of national constitutions explicitly protect the right to primary education, constitutional references to early childhood education are almost non-existent,” HRW said in a statement.
“When pre-primary education is not available free, cost prevents children from low-income families from participating.”
“Quality pre-primary education builds cognitive, social, and emotional skills during the most formative years,” HRW said.
In Sri Lanka, primary, secondary and even tertiary education in public institutions is free.
However, many families earn below the international poverty line, of under Rs. 1000 a day or under Rs.30,000 a month preventing them from enrolling children in pre-primary education institutions, which are not free.
“In Sri Lanka, a preschool teacher reported to Human Rights Watch in 2025 that students must pay 1000 LRK (US$3.50) monthly,” HRW said. “When families cannot pay, children do not come “for some months,” she said. In January 2025, only 3 out of 20 students in her class paid.”
“A Sri Lankan education officer said, “If you can’t afford to pay there is no space in the system… Only the families that have money can send their children to preschool.””
“Reasons for low attendance rates in some districts may include the unavailability of preschools near the home, high enrolment and tuition fees, and parents not seeing the benefit of a preschool education for their children and thus not demanding such services,” Sri Lanka’s National Policy on preschool education has told Human Rights Watch.
According to the National Census of Early Childhood Development Centres in Sri Lanka’s 2018 data, 19.8 percent of 19,668 preschools are public. 88.2 percent of the preschools in Sri Lanka charge a fee.
Studies have shown thar the early years of a child’s life are fundamental for overall development. The lack of access to quality education services can have long-term negative effects on cognitive, emotional, and social well-being.
HRW quoted a manager of a primary school in an area in Sri Lanka with high levels of children living in poverty as saying that 70 percent of incoming students had not benefited from any pre-primary education, and cited this as a reason for them facing learning challenges once in primary.
Ireland expanded free preschool to children aged 4 in 2010, and enrollment quickly became almost universal, HRW pointed out.
Pre-primary education is crucial for children with learning and physical disabilities.
Early exposure could strengthen the capacity to benefit from education and reduce stigmatization and discrimination against children with special needs.
The United Nations Sustainable Development goals aim to “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.”
Sri Lanka, which is said to have a literacy rate of 92 percent, grapples in early childhood education with low enrolment rates as fees discriminate against the poor.
