SDG 4

Education is an essential way to escape poverty. There were major achievements in the increase of access to education and school enrollment rates at all levels over the past decade. Even so, projections indicated that more than 200 million young people would be out of school, and only 60 percent of children would be finishing upper secondary education before the possible end of the coronavirus crisis in 2030. In addition, from 2000 to 2018, the proportion of children and youths who were out of primary and secondary school decreased from 26 percent to 17 percent. In particular, more than 85 percent of young people in sub-Saharan Africa were not receiving the minimum education. Thus, in March 2020, UNESCO announced “the COVID-19 Global Education Coalition”, a multi-sector partnership among the UN family, civil society organizations, media, and IT partners to design innovative solutions. They help countries tackle inclusive learning opportunities and implement innovative appropriate solutions for youth. 

UNESCO

“Education transforms lives” is a core of UNESCO’s targets to bring peace, eradicate hunger and meet sustainable development. They include fundamental human rights for all people regardless of their status. Global Education 2030 Agenda through Sustainable Development Goal 4 has been led by UNESCO. The essential principles of UNESCO are to contribute to offering worldwide leadership in education, building stronger education systems, and responding to current global issues through education as respecting gender equality. Their work includes the development of quality education from pre-school to higher education and beyond. To tackle the COVID-19 situation, for example, UNESCO’s Education Sector worked to help public and private partners and communities to secure educational circumstances for all children and youths, focusing on prioritizing education as a good tool for all people.

(https://www.unesco.org/en/education)

(https://www.unesco.org/en/covid-19/education-response)

Main Body 

Target: The main target comprises seven outcome targets and three means of implementation. 

Seven outcome targets

1. Free primary and secondary education 

Young children (all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education for their primary education.)

2. Equal access to quality pre-primary education 

Well-trained educators delivered compulsory quality pre-primary education, as well as early childhood development and care.

3. Equal access to affordable technical, vocational, and higher education 

Enable all people to access high school education including various types of education related to technical and vocational training with much less the cost of school expenses.

4. Increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success 

Access: increase learning opportunities 

Skills acquisition: high-level cognitive and non-cognitive skills, such as problem-solving skills, critical thinking, creative skills, teamwork skills, communication skills, and conflict resolution, which can be used in occupational fields. 

5. Eliminate all discrimination in education 

Inclusion and equality: Ensure all people access equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities without discrimination, including people with disabilities. Gender equality: all girls and boys, women and men, should have access to equal opportunity to enjoy high-quality education. 

6. Universal literacy and numeracy 

Actions for this target aim to ensure that by 2030, all youth and adults worldwide will have achieved an adequate and recognized level of proficiency in functional literacy and numeracy, equivalent to the level achieved on completion of basic education. 

7. Education for sustainable development and global citizenship

The content of such education must be related, focusing on both cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of learning. Citizens are required to have the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to make decisions and presume active roles both locally and globally in resolving global problems through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED), which includes intercultural education for international understanding. 

Three means of implementation

1. Build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools 

Effective learning environments: improve education facilities that are child, disability, and gender-sensitive and ensure safe, non-violent, inclusive, and effective learning environments for all. 

2. Expand higher education scholarships for developing countries 

Scholarships: the number of scholarships will be available to develop countries, such as the least developed countries, small island developing states, and African countries, for helping youths to enroll in higher education, which includes vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, and scientific programs, in both developed countries and other developing countries by 2020. 

3. Increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries 

Teachers and educators: the supply of qualified teachers will increase, which includes international cooperation for training teachers in developing countries, especially the least developed countries and small island developing states.   

SDGs education:

https://www.sdg4education2030.org/the-goal#:~:text=Sustainable%20Development%20Goal%204%20(SDG%204)%20is%20the%20education%20goal,lifelong%20learning%20opportunities%20for%20all.%E2%80%9D 

UNESCO SDG 4: https://en.unesco.org/education2030-sdg4/targets 

We still have educational challenges based on Sustainable Development Goal 4 for both developing and developed countries. In 2020, a large number of countries started closure schools temporarily, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe. Thus more than 91 percent of students worldwide were impacted. In addition, close to 1.6 billion children were out of school by April 2020. To resolve these problems, we must build a multi-sector partnership between the UN family and other sectors to design innovative solutions effectively. We should also all involve ourselves in creating a more sustainable, safer, prosperous planet for all. 

• United Nations: (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4) 

• SDGs education 2030: (https://www.sdg4education2030.org/the-goal#:~:text=Sustainable%20Development%20Goal%204%20(SDG%204)%20is%20the%20education%20goal,lifelong%20learning%20opportunities%20for%20all.%E2%80%9D )

• Sustainable Development GOALS: (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/ )