Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education
and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Building a better world starts with education.  There has been tremendous progress over the last decade to expand access to, and increase enrollment in, schools at all levels, especially for women and girls.  However, roughly 265 million children are still out of school and over 58 million of those are primary school age.  Some of the reasons behind the lack of quality educational opportunities in some regions include: lack of adequately trained teachers, poor school facility conditions, and inequity in opportunities offered to rural children.  According to the U.N., in order to provide quality education to children of impoverished families, investment is needed in educational scholarships, teacher training, and the building of schools as well as improvements in water/electricity access for existing schools.  Here are some statistics on education from the United Nations:

  • 617 million children and adolescents lack minimum proficiency in reading and mathematics
  • More than 50% of schools in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to basic drinking water, hand-washing facilities, internet access, or computers
  • 750 million adults are illiterate and two thirds of those are women
  • Worldwide, 1 out of 5 children aged 6 to 17 years old are not attending school
  • Roughly 50% of primary school aged children who are not attending school, live in conflict affected areas
  • In Central Asia, 27% more girls than boys of primary school age are not attending school
  • For more stats related to this month’s goal, please see the Goal 4 Progress site here

Goal 4 Targets:

  • 4.1 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
  • 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
  • 4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including universities.
  • 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 entrepreneurial well-being.
  • 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
  • 4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
  • 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.A Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
  • 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 enrollment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries
  • 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

This Month’s Challenge:

In May 2020, we are excited to be able to share another diverse list of datasets thanks to the amazing people at the Centre for Humanitarian Data.  Links to roughly 800 datasets on the Humanitarian Data Exchange, related to Education around the world, can be found on our data.world site here.

In the HDX File there are 5 tabs, each with links to a number of education related datasets:

  • Global EDU Files – Contains links to roughly 25 global datasets on a variety of different education related topics
  • Cntry Education Indicators – Contains links to over 200 country specific datasets with comprehensive data on that country’s education indicators
  • Cntry links to EDU Files – Contains links to over 200 country specific sites on HDX, each of which contains multiple datasets related to education in that country
  • Cntry School Locations – Contains links to nearly 300 country specific datasets with geospatial data on school locations
  • Cntry Other EDU Files – Contains links to roughly 80 other country specific datasets on a variety of different education related topics

And as always, we are sharing Goal related data from the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goal Database, with regional data on all of the targets listed above.  This data can be found on our data.world site here.

If you would like participate, you can use data from any source, but the overall goal is to focus your analysis on some of the education related topics mentioned in the Targets above.  If you come across other interesting datasets, please let us know so we can add them to our page on data.world.  The deadline for submission will be May 31, 2020. Make sure to tag us in your submission, add the #TheSDGVizProject hashtag, and add your submission to #TheSDGVizProject tracker.

As we mentioned on our Home page, building a viz is not the only way to participate.  Our main goal is to spread awareness, so if you see a viz with #TheSDGVizProject, please share it.  And keep an eye out for a post at the end of the month with ways that you can contribute to this month’s goal.

Sources:

Centre for Humanitarian Data

Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX)

Global SDG Indicators Database

Progress of Goal 4 in 2019

Goal 4: Education

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.