Financing for equity in pre-primary education
1. Education resources to subnational governments
2. Education resources to institutions
3. Education resources to students and families
4. Social policies and family support programmes
Introduction
Key financing indicators (UIS Data)
The official entrance age to pre-primary education in 2023 is 3 years old. In 2023, the number of years of free pre-primary education granted in legal frameworks was 3, and the number of years of compulsory pre-primary education granted in legal frameworks was 1. For 2022, the net enrolment rate for pre-primary for both sexes was 77,67%.
Governance
The main body responsible for allocating and overseeing the budget for preschool education is the Ministry of National Education and is further managed by local certified territorial entities, Entidades Territoriales Certificadas (ETC). The ministry manages the public budget for all levels of education, including early childhood and preschool education, through budget allocations approved annually within the General National Budget.
Tuition-free status
Pre-primary education is tuition-free, according to laws and policies.
1. Education resources to subnational governments
The General System of Participation (SGP) was created in 2001 under Law 715 of 2001 to distribute resources from the central government to the Certified Territorial Entities (ETC), mainly for education, health services and basic sanitation (Table 1). The SGP corresponds to the resources that the central government transfers by mandate of articles 356 and 357 of the 1991 Constitution (rev. 2015), to the ETCs and to the indigenous reserves, for the financing of the services they are responsible for, in health, education, drinking water and basic sanitation and the other areas or services assigned in Laws 715 of 2001 and 1176 of 2007. The SGP is composed of: i) a group of special allocations and ii) a group composed of sectoral allocations. 58.5% of the SGP is budgeted for education.
Under Law 715 of 2001, the central government decides how much money is transferred to the departments and municipalities for each student served, which varies according to location and conditions based on technical criteria. Resources for education are distributed based on the criteria of: 1) population served, 2) population served in conditions of efficiency and; 3) equity. According to Decree 1075 of 2015, the distribution of SGP for quality component education takes into account the official number of students enrolled, weighted according to the performance of the state educational establishment and according to educational improvement.
A smaller proportion of the budget is distributed according to equity criteria, taking into account population and poverty information based on the results of the last census. The values may be further adjusted for rural schools and schools that have students with special educational needs. Article 28 asks departments, districts and municipalities to give priority to investment that benefits the poorest strata, without detriment to the universal right to education.
In addition to the SGP, Decree 4807 of 2011 (compiled in Decree 1075 of 2015) states that territorial entities may contribute with other sources of resources in the financing of free education. ETCs may finance educationthrough: their own sources (tax and non-tax); royalties from non-renewable resources; co-financing with other levels of government or the private sector; credit; and other sources such as donations and international cooperation resources.
2. Education resources to institutions
The resources for disadvantaged schools come from the SGP mentioned above. This system allocates funds to departments and municipalities based on various criteria, which then distribute the resources independently. Allocations to target groups and schools are made through a decentralised system.
3. Education resources to students and families
No programme has been identified.
4. Social policies and family support programmes
The two central social policies and programmes designed to provide resources to students and their families are Más Familias en Acción (More Families in Action), which operated from 2000 to 2023, and was replaced by Renta Ciudadana (Citizen Income), launched in 2023 to address poverty through cash transfers.
Renta Ciudadana (Citizen's Income)
The Más Familias en Acción initiative was a cash transfer programme launched in 2000 as part of the Colombian government's efforts to mitigate the impacts of poverty in the country. The initiative was designed to support families living in poverty, displaced individuals, and indigenous communities with children under 18. The programme includes an educational subsidy, promoting responsibility for school attendance among primary and secondary students. Families who received benefits under this initiative may continue to receive monetary transfers through Renta Ciudadana.
In 2023, to replace Más Familias en Acción program, the Law 2294 of the “National Development Plan Colombia 2022-2026” created Renta Ciudadana, a new conditional and unconditional cash transfer system, under the direction and coordination of Prosperidad Social, the National Government entity and leader of the Social Inclusion and Reconciliation sector. The programme aims to “promote the social mobility of Colombian households in extreme poverty through social, productive and financial inclusion”.
Renta Ciudadana seeks to guarantee an variable income to families living in extreme poverty, moderate poverty, and those subject to vulnerability. The financial support is determined through an analysis of family structure, geographic prioritization, and grouping according to the SISBEN (Sistema nacional de identificación de beneficiarios de programas sociales) IV registry.
According to Law 2294 of 2023, the programme includes four “lines of intervention” targeting different vulnerable groups. The lines of intervention are Valoracion de Cuidado, Colombia sin Hambre, Fortalecimiento de Capacidades, and Atención de Emergencias.
In accordance with the 2024 Resolution 001973, the Colombia Sin Hambre line of intervention applies the following inclusion criteria to target families: 1) households in extreme poverty with children under 6 years of age, headed by two parents; 2) households living in extreme poverty with children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years old; and 3) indigenous units with children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years old. Receiving income through this line of intervention is conditional upon attendance in the formal education system.
