By: Victoria Arciniegas
Executive Director, aeioTU

In Colombia, we are experiencing a presidential election cycle devoid of debates—without the opportunity to hear candidates discuss their vision for the country in depth. We have seen exchanges regarding the economy, security, the role of the State, and fiscal sustainability, yet education has been notably absent from the conversation. Where does inequality truly originate? What factors predict the opportunities a person will have throughout their life? And, broadly speaking, what drives or hinders social mobility?

One of the most obvious answers lies in education. However, when we think of education, we tend to focus on higher education or workforce training. We often overlook the fact that the educational journey begins much earlier—that the majority of the neural connections serving as the foundation for everything that follows are developed during the first years of life.

Therefore, discussing early childhood is not merely a matter of care or attachment; it is about how a country’s human capital foundation is built. It means recognizing that, between the ages of zero and five, we begin life with advantages or disadvantages that, in many cases, will stay with us for decades. The inequality gap does not appear overnight; it begins to widen when comprehensive early childhood care ceases to be a priority.

Colombia has a great deal to show in this area. This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the *De Cero a Siempre* (From Zero to Forever) strategy and the tenth anniversary of the law that elevated it to a State policy. We have established institutional frameworks, defined quality standards, built technical capacity, and accumulated experience in cross-sector coordination. Few countries in the region have managed to build such a robust public policy architecture for early childhood.

And yet, there are two questions we have not answered with sufficient honesty: Have we succeeded in expanding coverage? Are we managing to sustain quality?

During the most critical stage for cognitive, emotional, and social development, deep disparities persist. More than half of children do not have access to early childhood education, and we still lack robust, continuous systems to monitor the quality of the experiences they receive.

Meanwhile, millions of children spend much of their day in the care of grandmothers, neighbors, community caregivers, and informal networks that quietly sustain a fundamental part of the country's care system. Strengthening this environment is not a marginal matter; it is a necessary condition for expanding opportunities and reducing inequalities from the earliest years of life.

The call to action is simple: in Colombia, social mobility begins—or stalls—in the earliest years of life, yet this reality still occupies too small a place in the national conversation.

And when we speak of quality, it is not an abstract concept. We are talking about human talent, training, support, data-driven decision-making, and institutions capable of sustaining a policy beyond a single term of government.

Hopefully, the next administration will help shift the conversation. For years, the focus has been on expanding coverage. But if we want to have a serious discussion about equity and social mobility, the conversation must move forward.

Quality in early childhood education is not the only answer to inequality, but it is certainly one of the most powerful. For it is during those early years that it is determined—often silently—whether the place where a child is born will set the limit on their opportunities or merely mark the beginning of their journey.