Obtaining a quality
education
is the foundation to improving people's lives and sustainable development. Major progress has been made towards increasing access to
education
at all levels and increasing enrolment
rates in schools particularly for women and girls. Basic literacy skills have improved tremendously, yet bolder efforts are needed to make even greater strides for achieving universal
education
goals. For example,
the world has achieved equality in primary
education
between girls and boys, but few countries have achieved that target at all levels of
education.
Ensure inclusive and quality
education
for all and promote lifelong learning.
Education
is the key that will allow many other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved. When people are able to get quality
education
they can break from the cycle
of poverty. Education therefore helps to reduce inequalities and to reach gender equality. It also empowers people everywhere to live more healthy and sustainable lives.
Education
is also crucial to fostering tolerance between people and contributes to more peaceful societies.
Yes,
education
reduces inequality. Using data for 114 countries in the 1985-2005 period, one extra year of
education
is associated with a reduction of the Gini coefficient by
1.4 percentage points.
Yes, enrolment in primary
education
in developing countries has reached 91%. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS Data Centre), between 2000 and 2012, the
percentage of out-of-school children among primary-school-age children has declined from 40% to 22% in sub-Saharan
Africa
and from 20% to 6% in
South Asia.
More than half of children that have not enrolled in school live in sub-Saharan
Africa,
which makes it the region with the largest number of out-of-school children in the world. And
this region has a very young population so it will have to provide basic education to 444 million children between the ages of 3 and 15 in 2030, which is 2.6 times the numbers
enrolled today.
Yes, women and girls are one of these groups. About one-third of countries in the developing regions have not achieved gender parity in primary education. In sub-Saharan
Africa,
Oceania
and
Western Asia,
girls still face barriers to entering both primary and secondary school. These disadvantages in education also translate into lack of access to skills and limited
opportunities in the labour market for young women.
The Sustainable Development Goals aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. As such,
the 17 SDGs and its associated 169 targets do not stand alone, but are are interconnected. The key to success on one
will involve tackling issues more commonly associated with another. If you are interested in supporting a cause
addressing to the goal {sdg.name}, you might also be interested in the related goals No Poverty, Decent Work And Economic Growth and Responsible Consumption And Production.