In our first post we will look at the international context of education development and reform.
Education has long been a focus area of international cooperation. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 defined education as a fundamental human right. The move for greater international cooperation in education began in 1990 with the adoption of the “World Declaration on Education for All”, by some 150 governmental and non-governmental organizations. The aim was to create universal access to basic education for all children, youth, and adults by the end of that decade. This was not fully achieved, so in 2000 the United Nations adopted the 8 Millennium Development Goals which included Goal 2, which was to achieve universal primary education by 2015.
In 2015, all United Nations member states adopted the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which aims to provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. Source [1].
The 4th Sustainable Development Goal concerns education:
The path to achieve the goal is detailed by 10 specific targets, each underpinned with performance indicators that can be monitored. The table below, taken from Wikipedia [2] summarizes the targets and performance indicators:
| Targets (from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) | Indicators (versions from March 2020) |
| 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[n 9] |
Progress monitoring on SDG4 is done by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which is a specialized UN agency supported by 194 member states and 12 associate members (as of December 2023). UNESCO gathers and maintains performance indicator data and publishes yearly progress updates as part of the overall annual SDG progress report cycle.
Ponderous and bureaucratic though it may seem, the UN and its agencies remain the most comprehensive and multilateral platform to signal and address international development issues, if mainly from the policy side. The actual implementation of measures to achieve the targets is performed by the individual member states, through government action as well as through private/public partnerships and private organizations, including NGOs.
The most recent SDG4 summary progress update was published in 2023 [3] and does not make for happy reading:
“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was already off-track to achieve its education targets. If no additional measures are taken, only one in six countries will meet SDG4 and achieve universal access to quality education by 2030. An estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school and an estimated 300 million students will still not have the basic numeracy and literacy skills they need to succeed in life. To deliver SDG4, education systems must be re-imagined, and education financing must become a priority national investment.” UNESCO, 2023.
In our next post, we will zoom into the state of education in the Sub-Saharan African Region, which by 2050 will be home to 1 in 3 of the world’s children [4].
[1] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2015): Sustainable Development Goals, [link] (consulted 22-Dec-2023).
[2] Wikipedia lemma (2023): List of Sustainable Development Goal targets and indicators, [link] (consulted 22-Dec 2023)
[3] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2015): Sustainable Development Goals, [link] (consulted 22-Dec 2023)
[4] Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2022): World Population Prospects 2022: Summary of Results, [link]