Free Primary Education was introduced in Kenya in 2003, enabling 1.3 million poor children to obtain schooling for the first time. However, a UNESCO/OECD Early Childhood Policy Review Mission noted that the policy had a negative impact on early childhood development centres serving poor children. The main reason for this phenomenon is that poor parents are now keeping their children at home until they reach the age of primary school. They refuse to pay for early childhood education on the grounds that this, like primary education, should also be free.