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

Goal 4 aims to ensure that all people have access to quality education and the opportunity for lifelong learning. The Goal goes beyond school enrolment and looks at proficiency levels, the availability of trained teachers and adequate school facilities, and disparities  in education outcomes. 

•  In 2014, 2 out of 3 children worldwide participated in pre-primary or primary  education in the year prior to the official entrance age for primary school, compared  to only 4 in 10 children in the poorest countries. 
•  Despite considerable gains in primary school enrolment between 2000 and 2014, 9 per cent of primary-school-aged children worldwide were out of school in 2014,  with little progress since 2008. 
•  Surveys undertaken between 2007 and 2015 in selected countries show that children and adolescents from the richest 20 per cent of households achieved greater proficiency in reading than those from the poorest 20 per cent of households, and urban children scored higher in reading than rural children.
•  Data for 2011 indicate that only about one quarter of schools in sub-Saharan Africa had electricity, less than half had access to drinking water, and only 69 per cent had toilets (with many lacking separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys).

TheSustainableDevelopmentGoalsReport2017%20(2).pdf