Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) is a commitment to ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. This goal aims to provide children and young people with quality and easy access to education, as well as other learning opportunities, and supports the reduction of inequalities. The key targets of SDG 4 include ensuring that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education, increasing the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills for employment, and eliminating gender disparities in education.
Despite progress in increasing access to education, significant challenges remain, including the fact that 262 million children and youth aged 6 to 17 were still out of school in 2017, and more than half of children and adolescents are not meeting minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a devastating impact on education, with hundreds of millions of children and young people falling behind in their learning. To achieve SDG 4, increased investment in education, particularly in developing countries, and international cooperation and partnerships are essential.
SDG 4 has 10 targets which are measured by 11 indicators. The seven outcome targets are: free primary and secondary education; equal access to quality pre-primary education; affordable technical, vocational and higher education; increased number of people with relevant skills for financial success; elimination of all discrimination in education; universal literacy and numeracy; and education for sustainable development and global citizenship. The three means of implementation targets are: build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools; expand higher education scholarships for developing countries; and increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries.
SDG 4 aims to provide children and young people with quality and easy access to education plus other learning opportunities. One of its targets is to achieve universal literacy and numeracy. A major component in acquiring knowledge and valuable skills in the learning environment. Hence, the urgent need to build more educational facilities and also upgrade the present ones to provide safe, inclusive, and effective learning environments for all.
Major progress has been made in access to education, specifically at the primary school level, for both boys and girls. In terms of the progress made, global participation in tertiary education reached 225 million in 2018, equivalent to a gross enrolment ratio of 38%.
Background
“Education for All” has been a popular slogan and has been given attention through different international development courses ever since 1990. It was considered critical at the inception of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and tagged SDG 4. Education is seen as a force for sustainable development, nation-building and peace. Children and young people who gain certain skills such as reading, writing, or counting are more likely to have a better future than their peers who lack these skills.
The role of education in ensuring sustainable development is not limited to developing regions, but the whole world at large. The major aim of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) is to provide an inclusive and high-quality education that will improve the learner’s standard of living and the community’s future.
Major progress has been made in promoting access to education, specifically at the primary school level, for both boys and girls. Sub-Saharan African countries experienced an increase in primary education completion rate from 49 percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2006.
However, increased access does not always translate to improved quality of education or completion of primary school. During the implementation of the MDGs, increment in school enrolment did not translate to improved educational outcomes.
Across the world, limited access to the internet has also adversely impacted students’ ability to engage in learning opportunities.
| Targets | Indicator(s) |
|---|---|
| 4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes | 4.1.1 Proportion of children and young people (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex 4.1.2 Completion rate (primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education) |
| 4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education | 4.2.1 Proportion of children aged 24–59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex 4.2.2 Participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age), by sex |
| 4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university | 4.3.1 Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months, by sex |
| 4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship | 4.4.1 Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill |
| 4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations | 4.5.1 Parity indices (female/male, rural/urban, bottom/top wealth quintile and others such as disability status, indigenous peoples and conflict-affected, as data become available) for all education indicators on this list that can be disaggregated |
| 4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy | 4.6.1 Proportion of population in a given age group achieving at least a fixed level of proficiency in functional (a) literacy and (b) numeracy skills, by sex |
| 4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development | 4.7.1 Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment |
| 4.a Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all | 4.a.1 Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service |
| 4.b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries | 4.b.1 Volume of official development assistance flows for scholarships by sector and type of study |
| 4.c By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States | 4.c.1 Proportion of teachers with the minimum required qualifications, by education level |
Custodian agencies
The custodian agency for most of the indicators of the targets is UNESCO-UIS. In addition, UNESCO is the custodian agency for some of the indicators. The International Telecommunication Union is the custodian agency for Indicator 4.4.1. OECD is the custodian agency for Indicator 4.b.1. UNESCO-ED/PSD/ESD is the custodian agency for indicator 4.7.1.
Links with other SDGs
Achieving SDG 4 will help to achieve many other SDGs: eradicate poverty (SDG 1), achieve gender equality (SDG 5), ensure good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), reduce inequalities among countries (SDG 10), promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent work for all (SDG 8), build resilient infrastructure and foster innovation (SDG 9), ensure access to information and awareness for sustainable consumption and style of production in harmony with nature (SDG 12), provide education and awareness toward taking urgent action to combat climate change (SDG 13), and promote peaceful and inclusive societies (SDG 16).
Organizations
Organizations that are involved in ensuring quality education is achieved include:
– Plan International
– UNESCO
– UNICEF
– Global Partnership for Education
– The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative
– Childhood Education International
– UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization-Institute for Statistics (UNESCO-UIS).
– United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
– International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
While the targets and indicators of SDG 4seek to expand the knowledge base of data, strategies and plans for quality education, the interlinking perspectives of these goals at micro-, meso- and macro- levels creates both challenges and opportunities for engagement more of shared responsibilities among individuals, education and training institutions, and local, state and central governments. However, many times due to the clash of the policies at different levels of implementation, the integral advantage of the vision of SDG 4 may be compromised. Presence of neutral spaces to co-create the options for quality education in the form of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are not always available in many parts of the world. Here the discourses on the successes become largely side-lined by the ones making financial profits.
The major contestations are summarized in Tilky (2017) and discussed under the following points:
1) The narrow versus the broad approach to sustainability through quality education,
2) The imbalance in regulating the goals in pre-primary, primary and secondary levels of education with tertiary, vocational and entrepreneurship education.
3) The focus on the quantities such as enrolment, attendance versus the the quality of education imparted,
4) Extending equitable education even among non-formal educational institutions,
5) Acknowledgement of the vulnerability and neglect of inclusiveness in education among excluded groups, including the disabled or differently abled populations,
6) The lack of transformation of justice, equity and opportunities for education at various levels and societies, leading to low outputs in sustainable life styling using quality education, and
7) Addressing uncertainties in the relative roles of states versus private sectors in imparting education at all levels as the disputes on the nature of accountability of institutions in shaping long-term educational programmes.
It is often perceived that the SDG indicators themselves or the ‘frames’ of reference are clustered around the three pillars of power, knowledge and norms (Monkelbaan, 2019) which can be complex parameters to attach education to. Also, Mokelbaan (2019) observed that they “operate on the ‘proximate drivers’ of governance, namely technology, demographics and institutions“. Thus, the problems in the implementation of the SDG goals arise due to “high levels of abstraction and terminological subtleties” – especially true for SDG 4.
FOR MORE DETAILED DISCUSSION ON SDG 4 – QUALITY EDUCATION, LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE ON ‘RESEARCH WITH NJ’.
Naman Jain 