Global investment in early childhood education is a key policy to address social and economic disadvantage for children and families. Since 1975, India has one of the world's largest provisions for free, public early childhood education, under a program called the "Integrated Child Development Scheme." However, almost half of the children in India still do not have access to early childhood education and the reasons behind this inequality are largely unidentified. This study investigates the nature of factors affecting demand and access to preschool and how parental decisions may be influenced by parents' education and other socio-economic factors, societal status, and awareness of the value of preschool attendance. The analyses draw on survey data collected from 1373 households in two districts in West Bengal with data gathered through extensive fieldwork in 2015. A key factor affecting preschool non-attendance was found to be lower levels of parent education. This explained the largest variation in the data. It is important to increase parental awareness on the value of preschool, as well as to increase the availability of early childhood education in rural, as well as in urban districts, in India.