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While the number of children completing primary school education has increased markedly over the past 50 years, in 2018, the World Bank found that 125 million children lacked the minimum literacy skills to continue their education, even after four years of enrolment. This realisation that schooling is not equivalent to learning has sparked a global debate on how to improve the quality of primary school education in low- and middle-income countries. This renewed focus is critical now more than ever, as policymakers shift their focus to rebuilding the global economy after the Covid-19 pandemic. How can they ensure that the policies implemented bolster the access to and quality of primary school education? And more importantly, how can they ensure that these policies capture the multiple disadvantages of vulnerable children from left-behind groups? Ahead of the G20 Education Ministers meeting and informed by ODI’s upcoming publication, ‘Pathways towards quality primary education: improving completion and learning outcomes’, we bring together a group of experts to examine successful reforms that have brought vulnerable children to the forefront of policy implementation and consider what is needed to push the agenda forward.