Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words.

In Hong Kong, a child’s education can be planned before the child can talk. The 2026 Yidan Prize laureates give that instinct an evidence base: factors shaping how well children learn are in motion long before their first day of class.

Professor Paul W. Glewwe, the laureate for education research, has shown how socioeconomic circumstances, health and nutrition shape learning outcomes. He was instrumental in introducing children’s and parents’ literacy, numeracy and abstract-reasoning indicators into World Bank household surveys, and pioneered the use of randomised controlled trials to evaluate education programmes and policies.

The education development laureates – Professor Susan P. Walker, Professor Sally Grantham-McGregor and Dr Susan M. Chang-Lopez – followed the evidence into the home. Their Reach Up approach helps caregivers talk, play and respond to children aged zero to four, using low-cost, culturally adaptable activities rooted in daily routines. It has been implemented in more than 21 countries through health, social protection, education and humanitarian systems. Its curriculum and materials are free, continuously evaluated and adapted.