Samoa's Ministry for Education says moves to make early childhood education, or ECE, compulsory will have both academic and social benefits.
That follows a nation-wide survey last year that found only 30 percent of children from three to five years of age in Samoa are enrolled in ECE.
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The ministry plans to increase that figure to more than 50 percent in the next 10 years by gradually introducing compulsory ECE.
The chief executive of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture, Karoline Afamasaga Fuata'i, said the benefits would be far-ranging.
"Given the chronic problems we keep having at primary level for literacy and numeracy, it's always a remedial effort, it's trying to put right what wasn't done right, so this is one answer to that problem is to actually address the literacy and numeracy needs of the children."
She said the ministry was using social media and advertising campaigns to promote the importance of early childhood education.
