SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs)

Goal 4 Quality Education

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

What is Education? Education can be defined as the process of receiving or giving systematic
instruction, especially at a school or university.

A quality education provides the outcomes needed for individuals, communities, and societies to
prosper. It allows schools to align and integrate fully with their communities and access a range of
services across sectors designed to support the educational development of their students.

Importance of Quality Education

Education enables upward socioeconomic mobility and is a key to escaping poverty. Education is
also essential to achieving many other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). When people are
able to get quality education they can break from the cycle of poverty. Education helps to reduce
inequalities and to reach gender equality. In fact, one extra year of education is associated with a
reduction of the Gini coefficient by 1.4 percentage points. Education empowers people everywhere
to live more healthy and sustainable lives. Education is also crucial to fostering tolerance between
people and contributes to more peaceful societies.
Quality education aims at developing a balanced set of capabilities of children they require to
become economically productive, develop sustainable livelihoods, contribute to peaceful and
democratic societies and enhance individual well-being. A formal school education provides an all
round development to a child in the following aspects, they are;

Mental aspect

School is the foremost fountain of knowledge children are exposed to. It gives a chance for them to
acquire knowledge on various fields of education such as people, literature,
history,mathematics,politics, and other numerous subjects. This contributes to cultivation in the
thought process. When one is exposed to the influences coming from various cultural sources,
his/her on world and existence becomes vast.

Social aspect

School is the first avenue of socialising for a child. Up till then, parents and immediate family
members are the only people the child has human interactions with. And familiarity is a breeding
ground of stagnancy. With schools, children are exposed not only to new ideas but also to same
aged compatriots. This instills sociable practices such as empathy, friendship, participation,
assistance which turn out to be important in their adulthood.

Physical aspect

A child, after conception, goes through various physical development. While home provides a
restricted outlet, in school, a child can channelise his energy into more sociable avenues. Studies
have pointed out that while in familiar environment, the child is equipped to deal with sudden bursts
of energy, the learns to be at his/her best behaviour only when exposed to same-aged individuals.
Plus, familiarity leads to taking advantage of situations, while in school, the playing field is levelled.
Also, the presence of activities such as sports, craft help children direct their boundless energy into
something productive.

Overall development

Earlier, schools were considered as places to learn events in history chapter, solve tough
mathematical problems or recite poems and sonnets. In the current educational scenario, a child
learns to go beyond the traditional way of rote learning. They are taught to develop a mind of their
own and through the flexible curriculum, curiosity is promoted. The child is freed from the shackles of
mental blocks and lets his/her imagination run its course. Importance of imagination is stressed upon
extensively. Play enactions and an encompassing curriculum lead to a well-developed cognitive
system.

Life is also about learning, apart from living. While we can learn to a certain extent from our parents,
they tend to be unilateral. At school, children are exposed to various sources from whom they can
imbibe immense knowledge, instrumental for their development. Hence school is necessary for
children to inculcate the workings of life”

Education forms the foundation of any society. It is responsible for the economic, social, and political
growth and development of society in general. The thread of the growth of society depends upon the
quality of education that is being imparted. So schools play an important role in moulding a nation’s
future by facilitating all round development of its future citizens.

Major progress has been made in access to education, specifically at the primary school level, for both
boys and girls. The number of out-of-school children has almost halved from 112 million in 1997 to 60
million in 2014. Still, at least 22 million children in 43 countries will miss out on pre-primary education
unless the rate of progress doubles.

Access does not always mean quality of education or completion of primary school. 103 million youth
worldwide still lack basic literacy skills, and more than 60 percent of those are women. In one out of
four countries, more than half of children failed to meet minimum math proficiency standards at the
end of primary school, and at the lower secondary level, the rate was 1 in 3 countries.

Target 1 of Goal is to ensure that, by 2030, all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality
primary and secondary education.

Additionally, progress is difficult to track: 75 percent of countries have no or insufficient data to track
progress towards SDG Goal 4 targets for learning outcomes (target 1), early childhood education (target
2), and effective learning environments. Data on learning outcomes and pre-primary school are
particularly scarce; 70 percent and 40 percent of countries lack adequate data for these targets,
respectively. This makes it hard to analyze and identify the children at greatest risk of being left behind.
A 2019 study used computer modeling to estimate educational attainment for men and women from
2000-2017, mapping the results for each country to help identify areas lagging behind.

Targets

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary
education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes

 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and
preprimary education so that they are ready for primary education

 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational
and tertiary education, including university

 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

 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

 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve
literacy and numeracy

 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

 Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe,
nonviolent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
 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

 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.

Where Are People Struggling The Most To Have Access To Education?

Adequate infrastructure and teacher training play a critical role in the quality of education. Sub Saharan
Africa faces the biggest challenges in providing schools with basic resources. The situation is extreme at
the primary and lower secondary levels, where less than one half of schools in sub-Saharan Africa have
access to drinking water, electricity, computers and the Internet. Another important step towards the
goal of good quality education for all is getting enough trained teachers into classrooms. Here again,
sub-Saharan Africa lags behind.

Are There Groups That Have a More Difficult Access To Education?

Yes, women and girls are one of these groups. About one-third of countries in the developing regions
have not achieved gender parity in primary education. In sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and Western
Asia, girls still face barriers to entering both primary and secondary school. These disadvantages in
education also translate into lack of access to skills and limited opportunities in the labour market for
young women.

What Can We Do?

Ask our governments to place education as a priority in both policy and practice. Lobby our
governments to make firm commitments to provide free primary school education to all, including
vulnerable or marginalized groups. Encourage the private sector to invest resources in the
development of educational tools and facilities. Urge NGOs to partner with youth and other groups to
foster the importance of education within local communities.

*Questions And Answers (Interactive session)