“Eight is too late” runs the latest education mantra. If you haven’t got a child hooked by then, it’s an uphill struggle. From the very beginning children need to be engaged with people and the world around them. It’s important for their formal schooling but also a lifetime of learning. In a BBC series called “First Steps”, we visit three countries, Brazil, Uganda and Moldova, to look at the very early stages of education and see how children are being prepared for the most important challenge of their lives. Among the people interviewed for the series is George Soros, one of the richest men in the world. Soros is also a considerable philantrophist and has spent millions of dollars on early education schemes, especially in central and eastern Europe. His philosophy is simple: “Invest in education at the very start of a child’s life and it really pays off later. The early money is the best spent money”.

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