The early years (0 to 8 years) are the foremost extraordinary period of growth and development during a child's lifetime. During these years foundations of all learning are laid. Getting the foundations right carries huge future benefits: better learning at school and higher educational attainment, which results in major social and economic gains for society. Research shows that good quality early learning, early childhood education and early childhood development (ECD) programs help to cut back the possibilities of dropout and repetition and improves outcomes at all levels of education.