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Policies in increasing access to education for all have been implemented for over 6 decades in Sri Lanka. Consequently, education has been an agent for upward mobility for the poor and disadvantaged and a means of equalizing gender disparities. However, Sri Lanka as a developing country is not only faced with the challenge of sustaining the positive gains of participation rates in primary education at 97% for boys and 98% for girls, 1 literacy rates at 95% for males and 90% for females and high enrolment rates in basic education but has moved to the second phase of improving the quality of education. Assessments and studies of the education system conducted from the late 1980s onwards have shown that learning level in primary education is unsatisfactory.

Despite the education reforms in primary education from 1999, cognitive achievement tests among primary school children2 shows that achievement in first language and mathematics continues to be low due to deficiencies in the implementation of the reforms and the most affected are in the rural and plantation sectors. The study by (UNICEF and PLAN Sri Lanka) showed that one of the strongest correlating factors for low achievement was lack of access to Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) services that equips the child the entry competencies for primary education.

Conclusion is that the entire continuum of child development is significantly influenced by the quality of ECCD services accessed by the child from ages 0-5/6 years. Unlike formal education the state does not provide pre school education and Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) services.

Nongovernmental organizations, private individuals and local Government institutions run these services in an unregulated institutional environment. It is only comparatively recently that policy imperatives for early Childhood Care and Development were formulated and instituted nationally with the Children's Secretariat under the ministry of Child Development and Women's empowerment taking on the lead role in ECCD and in 2008 the Southern provincial ECCD committee have been made special gazette for provincial statement and standards for quality ECCD services. Yet the need for comprehensive pre school education and Early Childhood stimulation remains profound as the process began from 2008.

1. The school census Survey of 2001, Ministry of Education
2. A study conducted by the World Bank in 2004 of the achievements level of children in grade 4 across the country and a study conducted by Plan in 2004/5 in 132 selected school in the districts that plans works

According to national estimates 38% of children aged 3-5 years do not have access to ECCD program. However, in the rural sector it is estimated that the percentage of children without access to ECCD services is much higher. The main causal factor is the poor parental awareness on the importance of ECCD services and the vast potential for home based ECCD. Culturally and socially ECCD was inherent in the extended family system but with the disintegration of the extended family the conscious awareness of the many possibilities of strengthening a larger area of the school entry behavior / competencies at home has not been harnessed. And also revealed that children spent long hours on their own or with older siblings with no conscious stimulation, poor safety precautions in the household and lack of care. The overall conclusion of the study was that the parents and the community are not fully aware of the potential and need for early childhood care and development.
Another crucial issue pertaining to ECCD is the poor quality of preschool/ ECCD services. A study of child care provision in pre schools conducted by the children’s secretariat of the Ministry of Social Welfare in 20033, A study conducted by the ECCD authority of the North Western Provincial Council in collaboration with PLAN-SL, a study conducted by the ECCD committee 20074 of the southern province in collaboratively with Plan-SL and Plan’s own assessment for project designing have shown deficiencies in the following areas:

1. The curricular followed are not standardized or regulated resulting in the practice of wide and varied syllabi/curricular that are not based on standardized child development theory and concept. Most curricular are geared to an examination oriented school situation disregarding the natural and social environment that is rich in learning opportunities. There was some utmost dissimilarity among the preschool studied. In many sections what was seen was divergence other than similarities. The time frame was not seen in similar standards which were seen as the major reason for the irregular expansion of pre schools.
2. Professional training and experience of the pre-school teachers were in agreeable level but the qualification and training of caregivers and teachers is not standardized to bridge the gap between pre-school education and primary education. Divers organizations and institutions that lack minimum standards for teacher training and for teacher qualifications train pre-school teaches and caregivers.
3. National study on Child Care Provision in Pre-schools. Sri Lanka, 2003, the Children
4. ECCD baseline assessment survey in Tissamaharamaya,Hambantota, Ambalantota and Tangalle    

1. The available Institutions differ widely in the type and availability of facilities and services provided and most of the pre-schools and daycare centers do not meet the stipulated standards for physical facilities, child safety and amenities. It is not possible to be satisfied with the physical facilities and the services offered by pre schools. A multitude weakness found to be available in connection with buildings, spaces available, ventilation, desks and benches, kitchen, drinking water, defense, play materials, etc.
2. Limited technical alignment, research and monitoring and evaluation to link ECCD to formal education. Action Research, Documentation, dissemination and monitoring evaluation on child development and pre school education is vital for the development of the policy imperatives and operational standards. However, investment in research for action and follow up is limited resulting in a lack of technical precision in the implementation of ECCD standards
3. Insufficient knowledge and misconception of parents on ECCD have caused certain evils in the process of ECCD services. And a classic illustration seems here was the unavailability of continuous uninterrupted and systematic nutrition programs for ECCD centers.
4. The lack of clarity in assigning the responsibility of implementing the regulatory and policy framework to standardizes ECCD services is and overall issue that affects the poor quality or lack of ECCD services. The national policy formulated in 2003 to regulate and formulize ECCD services was a major break through but the implementation of the policy result with the ministry of child development and women’s empowerment without a systematic link to the Ministry of Education. As the stage of Pre-school education (3-5/6 years of age) directly precedes primary education between the connection between the pre school curriculum and the primary curriculum needs to be established through and institutional link between two ministries and the relevant syllabi.
5. Treasures of the Education System in Sri Lanka, Restoring performance, Expanding Opportunities and Enhancing prospects. World Bank, 2004

Regionally the implementation of the policy result primarily with the provincial council. The regional policies and legislations to regulate and monitor child care provision in pre-schools and in the home has been developed and implemented by only two of the 9 provinces. The lack of  a coordinating body, regulatory standards and criteria and definite administrative and management structures to coordinate the provincial, district, divisional and community levels have resulted in indifferent standards in childcare. The lack of data on childcare provision and the child population in the age groups both nationally and provincially also inhibits planning for ECCD.