The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the universal right to education with countries in the world making concerted efforts to enshrine this right. In September 2015, a historic agreement among the World’s nations paved way for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) a blueprint set to tackle global and local challenges over the next 15 years.
The SDG’s are a set of ambitious and transformational global goals which seek to ensure that no one is left behind. The Global Goals are a set of 17 goals and 169 targets with the ambition to end poverty in all its forms, reduce inequalities and tackle climate change over the next 15 years (2016 to 2030).
Education in all its forms that is formal, non-formal and formal is crucial to ensure human dignity. The aim of education is set out to the realisation of individual dignity and rights. According to UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development means ”integrating key sustainable development issues such as climate change, disaster risk reduction and biodiversity into teaching and learning.” Schools and teachers are in a unique position to educate and inspire billions of children, young people and learners to action on the world’s biggest challenges by applying participatory teaching and learning.
Sustainable Development Goal 4 captures the agenda for education and seeks to ensure that there is not just access to education but an “inclusive and equitable quality education which promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030”.
The specific targets which relates to education are:
- Target 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
- Target 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 - Target 4.3: By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
- Target 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
- Target 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
- Target 4.6: By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
- Target 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
The targets also come with Three Means of Implementation:
- Target 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
- Target 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
- Target 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
Given the interdependent nature of the SDG’s, the education goal relates to all the other 16 goals for instance health and well-being, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, responsible consumption and production, and climate change to mention a few. This presents education not only as an end goal in itself but also a means through which other goals can be achieved.
According to the 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report on Education and the Sustainable Development Goals, “part of reducing inequality is to reduce disparities in education; part of reducing poverty is to equip people with the skills for more productive livelihoods.”
Through the Schools for SDGs initiative, Africa Dialogues Consulting seeks to empower teachers to be able to teach and influence behaviour towards sustainability, and learners to learn about sustainability in a simple way, and beyond that act for sustainability in Africa. In light of the role of education as a driver of sustainable change that is owned by all the stakeholders that is learners, educators and schools, the global goals present a holistic vision of what a good society should look like.