The “SDG 4 Mid-Term Progress Review” is the title of UNESCO’s 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report. This recently released report analyses the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to education since 2015. According to the report, the number of children not enrolled in school has risen to 250 million, an increase of six million since 2021. The report emphasises that 1.4 million children must be enrolled in preschool each year until 2030, and primary completion rates need to almost triple.
Key Highlights of the Report
The report examines data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, which administers 10 of the 12 global indicators. A few key findings from 2015 to 2021 include:
1. Early Childhood: Enrollment in organized learning programs for children one year younger than the official primary entry age stagnated at 75%.
2. Adult and Tertiary Education: While enrollment in tertiary education increased from 37% to 41%, adult participation in formal or non-formal education fell by 10% due to Covid-19.
3. Gender Parity: There was a slight increase in young women completing secondary school for every 100 young men, but this improvement was not globally uniform.
4. School Infrastructure: The percentage of schools with electricity rose from 66% to 76% in primary education and from 88% to 90% in upper secondary education.
5. Teachers: Approximately 86% of primary education teachers received training, with a slight increase noted in sub-Saharan Africa.
6. Inequity in Access: Covid-19’s shift to online learning excluded at least half a billion students worldwide, primarily affecting the poorest and most rural areas.
Education Completion Rate: The Sub-Saharan Scenario
The completion rate for primary education in sub-Saharan Africa lagged behind the global average by more than 20%. The region also remained below the global average for upper secondary education. However, Vietnam emerged as a unique case in low- and lower-middle-income countries with a majority of children achieving minimum proficiency in both reading and mathematics at the end of primary school.
Sustainable Development Goals for Education
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 global goals established by the United Nations in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SDG 4 contains 10 targets that encompass various aspects of education, including seven outcome-based targets and three means to achieve those targets. The primary target is ensuring all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes by 2030.
Previous Year Question from UPSC Civil Services Examination
A question from the 2016 examination asked candidates to determine the accuracy of two statements: “The Sustainable Development Goals were first proposed in 1972 by a global think tank called the ‘Club of Rome’. The Sustainable Development Goals have to be achieved by 2030.” The correct answer was the second statement. The SDGs were adopted in 2015 and came into effect in January 2016. They are intended to be achieved by 2030; hence, the second statement is correct. However, the first statement is incorrect as the SDGs were first conceived at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, not by the Club of Rome, which began advocating resource conservation in a more systematic way in 1968.