7. In low-income countries, where e

7. In low-income countries, where education for all is still far from becoming a reality, the provision of early childhood education is still very limited and, more often than not, organised on a private basis, and therefore only available to children from the wealthiest of families.
8. In other words, there is flagrant inequality which is detrimental to those who are most disadvantaged.
9. In high-income countries, where demand for such education services is on the increase, two different concepts continue to exist side-by-side: on the one hand, structures which are mainly social in character, and whose main objective remains the provision of child-care services for the parents of young children, especially women, thereby enabling them to be gainfully-employed; at the other extreme, we find structures with a more educational focus, also offering a social service but whose primary aim is the promotion of a child's development.
10. The educational nature of these establishments is currently being intensified, responding as it does to children's needs, needs which are now recognised by teachers, families and society in general.
11. EI’s main policy on ECE is shaped by the resolution passed at the 2nd World Congress of EI in 1998.