Sustainable Development Goal 4

"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. 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, indicators, and progress ==

Since 2015, contributions on behalf of GCE's policy were made to give precise division for SDG4. SDG 4 consists of 7 targets, 3 means of actual application, and 12 indicators. Eight of them are supposed to be achieved by 2030, while one is to be achieved by 2020 and the rest have no target years. Each of the targets has one or more indicators to measure progress. The targets include free primary and secondary education (4.1), equal access to quality pre-primary education (4.2), equal access to affordable technical, vocational and higher education (4.3), increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success (4.4), eliminate all discrimination in education (4.5), universal literacy and numeracy (4.6), education for sustainable development and global citizenship (4.7), build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools (4. a), expand higher education scholarships for developing countries (4. b) and increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries (4. c) The main mission of this target is: "By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to a relevant and effective learning outcome." In choosing this mission, different issues were considered, with the mission statement itself stipulating that: students are publicly-funded, engaged through inclusive education regardless of their differences, resources, and means are equitably distributed, education has to be instrumental towards a profound learning outcome regardless of race, gender or ethnicity. Non-proficiency rates remain disturbingly high despite steady growth in enrollment over the years. 88 percent of children (202 million) of primary and lower secondary school age were not proficient in reading, and 84 percent (193 million) were not proficient in Mathematics in 2015 in sub-Saharan Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures worldwide which made these inequalities worse. The importance of SDG 4 in this target lies in strategically working on the learner's character and academic level for a better world. Target 4.2: Equal access to quality pre-primary education and tertiary education, including university." Target 4.4: Increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success The full title of this target is: "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." While disabled students are increasing in higher educational institutions, many institutions, while disabled students face barriers on a daily bases, are not ready to support those students yet. Target 4.6: Universal literacy and numeracy The full title of this target is: "By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men, and women, achieve literacy and numeracy." To facilitate the expansion of comprehensively designed basic learning programs, providing a variety of learning methods and setting standards for gradual progression by ability are required. In order to expand the learning programs, more precise information collection is required. To collect this information, Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML) is developing the necessary tools for methodology and standardization. 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. == Challenges ==

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic It is estimated that at least a third of the world's children do not have the technology they need to participate in remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting widespread school closures. The pandemic has also resulted to an increase in educational inequalities with a completion rate of 79% for the well off and 34% for the poor households. Just as all SDGs, achieving SDG 4—for inclusive and equitable access to education—is likely to be missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a projection that more than 200 million children will still be out of education by 2030. COVID-19 highlighted the significance of health literacy and the system's failure to provide an equal opportunity of education for everyone. Health literacy can be described as the ability of an individual to make decisions based on healthcare provider's advice. Actions are called to include health literacy in basic educational curriculum systems to foster educated individuals to slow down the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. Most of the world's children were deprived of formal education during the COVID-19 outbreak—a legacy that could threaten the SDGs' underlying ambition to leave no one behind (LNOB). In retrospect, the 2023 report estimated that about 80% of countries with available data experienced large-scale learning losses due to COVID-19. Many educational institutions are attempting to maintain programs through online education. In OECD countries, although the impact of COVID-19 was huge, there are also possibilities to generate new types of education system. However, equity remains a major constraint on access to distance learning, as many students in developing countries do not either have access to the internet or a safe and supportive learning environment appropriate for e-learning. To foster international collaboration and ensure that education never stops, UNESCO in March 2020 launched the COVID-19 Global Education Coalition, a multi-sector partnership between the UN family, civil society organizations, media, and IT partners to design and deploy innovative solutions. == 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). == Monitoring and progress ==

An annual report is prepared by the Secretary-General of the United Nations evaluating the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Established in 2002, the Global Education Monitoring Report is an editorially independent report, hosted and published by UNESCO. It monitors the implementation of national and international strategies to help hold all relevant partners to account for their commitments, as part of the overall SDG follow-up and review process. Progress is difficult to track as 75 percent of countries have no or insufficient data to track all the SDG 4 targets. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are free open education offered through online platforms. The initial philosophy of MOOCs was to open up quality Higher Education to a wider audience. As such, MOOCs are an important tool to achieve SDG 4. At the same time, MOOCs also contribute to Goal 5, in that they are gender-neutral and can give women and girls improved access to education. == 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) == References ==