The main purpose o[ the study was to investigate the current status and practice of preschoolrneducation in Mekelle. Moreover, it aimed at identifYing the major bOllle necks that hindered thernpromotion of preschool education and provide recommendations that could alleviate thernproblems.rnMixed research designed was used in dealing with the research where thernquantitative data gathered through questionnaire were triangulated with data gathered throughrnin-depth interview with educational authorities in Tigray Education Bureau and Mekelle ZonernEducation office. To investigate the current status o[preschool education documents from thernTREBIEMIS were used and gross enrollment rate and net enrollment rate calculated The resultsrno[ the analysis showed that more than two third of the children in Mekelle did not have thernopportunity to preschools in the city. Among the existing preschool institutions in the townrn96.4% of them were owned by private investors, NGGs and religious organizations where theyrncharge tuitionfees which are not ajjordable[or most o[the parents in city. It was also found thatrnthe zonal education office is taking alternative strategies called "O-class " in the premises of thernformal primary schools to age six children ji-om the poor family to prepare them for the formalrnschooling. The main bottlenecks in promoting preschool education according to the result of thernresearch were more of economic i.e. house hold poverty and family size., lack of awareness onrnthe value of preschool education and child right, shortage of facilities, lack of coordinationrnamong the stakeholders, shortage of public investment contributed to the low participation raternof preschool education in Mekelle. To alleviate the problems and promote preschool educationrnfeasible suggestions are forwarded.