Group6_A | SDG 4: Quality Education

SDG-4: Quality of Education - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 

Group Members:  

Anushka Jain BJ20010 | Manav Hirani BJ20020 | Isha Gupta BJ20021 | Ramsha Marufi BJ20041 | Simran Jain BJ20051 | Sonal Gupta BJ20053 


Introduction 

Education is one of the significant pillars necessary for sustainable growth and development. With growing awareness levels, countries worldwide have experienced tremendous progress in improving literacy skills and increasing enrolment rates. The global youth literacy rates increased to 91.4% in 2016, from 83.2% in 1990. In pursuit of Millennium Development Goals in India, progress has been observed in providing basic universal education and gender equality in education through schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and mid-day meals. However, the challenges we face are immense. As our country dealt with the Covid 19 crisis, 25 crore children lost their access to education as schools remained shut and the existing structural weaknesses in the education sector came to the forefront.  

 

The Sustainable Goal of Development of quality education finds its place in the urgent call for action by all the UN member countries to "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all." As the foundation of sustainable development, quality education is closely linked with the other SDGs, particularly Goal 17 (global partnerships for sustainable development), as a collaboration between the governments, businesses, and social sectors are essential to achieve our objectives. Education, as a policy intervention, facilitates self-reliance and economic development by improving people's skills and making better opportunities accessible to them. Some critical targets of the sustainable development goal of education for 2030 are for all girls and boys to complete primary and secondary education free of cost and equitable access to quality technical and vocational education. The current interventions require increased access and efficiency and address relevant barriers, including gender inequalities and malnutrition. There is also a need to make the systemic changes needed to invest in quality teaching foundations, broaden educators' scope, and promote hybrid learning environments that incorporate formal and non-formal education. 

 

 

 

 

Relevance for India  

 

Education is often regarded as a means of self-independence, self-reliance and even helps open the doors of opportunities providing people with ways to improve their socio-economic standing. Over the years, India has taken several initiatives to universalize education and ensure it is accessible and available to all. Several reforms and policies taken by the government have helped the nation inch closer to achieve the targets set by SDG 4 such as: 
 

  • Right To Education (RTE): It provides for free and compulsory education for 6–14-year-old kids. It includes 25% reservation in private schools for EWS children and maintenance of Pupil Teacher Ratios. Sarva Siksha Abhiyan was launched under this in 2010. 
  • Mid-Day Meal: Launched in 1995, it aims at providing nutritious meals to students of class I - VII with a view to increase enrollment and retention. 10 Crore+ students from 11.5 Lakh school across India avail this scheme. 
  • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: Launched by GoI in 2015 with a Rs. 100 Crore funding, it aims at improving sex ratio which stood at 919 to 1000 in 2011 and female literacy. 
  • Others: Some other important schemes are Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Samagra Shiksha, Shala Kosh etc. have also been implemented. 
 

   

 

Among the states, Tripura has the highest adjusted net enrolment of 94.72% and Delhi leads UTs with 92.95%. Around 70.43% of schools have attained a Pupil teacher Ratio of less than or equal to 30. The dropout rate at secondary level has also come down to 17.06%. An added advantage for India is having an average age of 29 years. This demographic dividend provides scope for improvement in education and skill development. 

 

However, there is a difference between schooling and education and despite the progress shown in enrolment, quality of education still poses a challenge. According to the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, India contributes 21% to the world’s quality education achievement gap. To combat this the GoI made a bold move and introduced the New Education Policy (NEP) to bring a much-needed educational reform and improve the quality of education right from primary schooling. The goal is to reach 50% gross enrolment for higher education by 2035.  

 

Business Implications and responses 

   

Businesses strive to hire the best talent with a practical understanding of relevant business functions. Ideally, quality education should enable upskilling and foster original ideas; making students ready for practical application of skills learnt. Employability is a major challenge for graduates. A PWC report revealed 66% of top-level executives see lack of right skills as the biggest talent challenge. According to India Skills Report 2019, only 46.21% of Indian students are employable. Due to this, the economy is not able to profit from its large human capital. 

  

Businesses have identified this gap. According to a study by KPMG, 37% of the CSR funds were allocated to the field of education. Corporates around the world have taken initiatives to contribute to education. A Spanish financial services company, Banco Santander made highest corporate CSR fund allocation of 79% for education by giving their ATM users the option to donate 5 pesos on their transactions. Microsoft’s YouthSpark program created educational and economic opportunities for 227 million young students.  

 

Companies like BCG, P&G, Axis, and Cipla have made notable contributions towards SDG 4. 

 

BCG transforming education

Through effective stakeholder management, BCG aims, “to unlock the potential of those who advance the world”. In Haryana, BCG transformed the 15000 schools by targeting at improving student learning outcomes in the state.  The major drivers of improvement in academic quality by improving governance and establishing a top down, flexible, inside-out. It developed accountability mechanisms and modern data and evaluation systems, improved capability, and re-focused on quality enhancement through numerous in-school and institutional initiatives. During the coronavirus crisis, the company aimed at increasing the access of digital content to students all over India. Its global initiatives include partnership with UNICEF, launch of a Learning Passport for wholistic development in the educational field. It supports learners, educators, and governments to improve the quality of education.      

 

P&G Shiksha Program 

The P&G Shiksha program, which is their flagship CSR initiative, was launched in 2005 to provide access to education to underprivileged children. They pledged a portion of the sales of their large pack products towards the program. In 2012, a minimum donation commitment amounting to $150,000 was made by P&G India, which would be irrespective of their sales figure. The focus of the program was on three primary areas: betterment of education infrastructure, empowerment of marginalized girls through education and improving the overall learning outcomes. They have built and refurbished over 1700 classrooms in India, in partnership with NGO Round Table India (RTI). By supporting the 350+ KGBV schools, in partnership with Save The Children, across Jharkhand and Rajasthan, they have helped 71,000 marginalized girls to overcome gender-based barriers to learning and education. In collaboration with NGO Pratham which has extensive experience in remedial learning, the Read India Program was launched, and 55,000 students benefitted from the same. 

  

Axis 

In 2017, they launched ‘Axis DilSe’ aimed at bringing change and inclusive growth through transforming primary schools in remote areas, especially in Leh and Kargil. 100+ schools were provided with playground equipment, libraries, solar-powered ‘DigiLabs’ and age-appropriate classroom infrastructure. The focus was on integrating the Anganwadis and providing training to teachers and villagers for effective utilization of the facilities and enhance learning. Project Akshar was also launched in 2017 and aimed at creating financially literate and creditworthy individuals in society. An online and gamified knowledge bank is offered in 5 different languages and has been availed by over 3 Lakh people since its inception. The project has bagged accolades like – ‘CSR Project of the year in Banking and Finance’ at the Brand CSR Awards 2019.   

Axis also provides skill and personality development programs and English learning courses with a focus on rural women. Multiple mass awareness camps and money plan programs are also conducted regularly covering more than 30,000 participants.  

  

  

Cipla’s Mobile Science Labs  

Cipla strives to make education accessible for students in remote communities. They run a unique hands-on and interactive learning programme named Mobile Science Labs (MSL) which aims to encourage scientific acumen in students. Equipped with over 100 science models, they tread remote schools, where students have no access to quality learning. . They have Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres in South Africa and India for 3–6-year-old children whose parents are mostly migrant labourers, where the needs of nutrition, education, and physical protection are met along with security from abuse. To reduce inequities in learning environments, they support schools near their facilities by constructing sanitation blocks, libraries, and science labs. They also promote digital literacy by providing computers and projectors apart from books and stationery for schools. Financial support is also provided to students from government and government-aided schools, who have secured the top three positions in state-level board exams.  

 

Samsung Electronics 

Samsung contributes to SDG4 with the following initiatives: Samsung Dream Class in South Korea, Samsung Software Academy for Youth, Samsung Semiconductor Academy, Samsung Technical School in India and Samsung Hope for Children in Russia. 

  

Analysis and suggested path ahead  

 

25 years ago, when entrepreneur John Elkington coined the phrase Triple Bottom Line (TBL), the conversation about companies examining and exploring their social, environmental, and economic impacts when assessing their performance, was still abound with clogged pipeline of implementation.  

Among many such challenges was the root level impact measurement. But today the data on company performance in these areas is becoming more available and reliable, increasing transperancy and hence added scrutiny from investors. Standards developed on Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) are providing the proof of the pudding that are of financial importance to the industry. Investing is finding it’s due realignment in Sustainability Indices. Managers are incorporating their material ESG measures into their investment models. Governments are of expectant of corporate solutions to economic and social problems and are looking to collaborate with companies in such initiatives. The private sector is the answer to the gap that prevails in attainment and cost of SDGs.  


Education: An enabler of sorts 

The prima facie importance of education is undisputed but the fact that it can help achieve so many other SDGs find full potential needs to be looked into more keenly. The vicious cycle of poverty can be abridged by quality education, inequalities of gender can be exorcized, healthy lives can be nurtured, sustainable growth of planet can be conversed more vociferously and fostering tolerance between societies for a peaceful. 

Female education is one of the strongest determinants of child survival in all societies, a key strategy for ending preventable maternal and child deaths, as well as reducing fertility and improving child, adult and family health and nutrition. 

Massive flows of funding for education is felicitous. The availability of the digital revolution makes information readily available. They make educating, mass education of people much, much cheaper, possible, and doable, but still, there is a need for large flows of cash going into less educated, less developed, least developed countries, and in educating women. 


India Outlook 

The coming together of the government as a facilitator, the civil society through NGOs along with the corporates is the need of the hour. India’s key policies and programs has been in alignment with the SDGs and before them, the MDGs. India’s quasi-federal structure has enabled NITI Aayog to be positioned as a champion of collaboration between the Centre and the States, replacing the top-down approach with a bottom’s up one, and to inculcate the spirit of Competitive Federalism between the States.  

 

Way Ahead 


Improving Learning Pedagogies – Pedagogy is the most critical aspect of the learning process. It includes teaching practices, learning environments and modes of learning. The changes in other factors will have little effect on the quality of education unless the pedagogy is drastically improved. According to Brooking Institution's Learning to Leapfrog – Innovative Pedagogies to Transform Education Report, the educators can use the 6 clusters of innovative teaching and learning practices. The clusters are: Blended Learning, Computational Thinking, Experiential Learning, Embodied Learning, Multiliteracies and Gamification.  

  

Teachers and Educators – SDG4 has three means of implementation. Perhaps, the most important of them are teachers and educators. Along with having content knowledge, the educator should be trained in innovative pedagogies to enable them to teach a 21st-century learner. There are examples like the C-STEM Challenge in Dominican Republic and USA and the Mobile Taleem in Pakistan, which provide training courses to educators. It is of crucial importance that the profile base of educators is widened. Professionals, specialists, youth volunteers, peers, artists, distance educators, parents, senior citizens have a wide variety of values and knowledge that can be provided to the learners. This support can help compensate for the shortage of teachers. Examples can be found in Project SEED in the USA and Kenyan Young Leaders Program. 

  

Hybrid Learning Environments - Hybrid learning conditions can be beneficial for the take-up of inventive teaching methods on the grounds that there are impediments with respect to what changing training frameworks from "within" can achieve. Improving instructional strategies, educating, and learning in structures that stay immaculate implies that change needs to develop inside the boundaries of a predominant scholastic model. Akanksha Schools Project is a public-private organization between the Akanksha Foundation and the public authority schools in Maharashtra, India. Here, the after-school centers (Akanksha) give exceptionally created learning apparatuses to help the public authority educational plan. Another model is the Escola Municipal Professor Paulo Freire School in Brazil, which builds the time and the open doors for learning by stretching out school to nine hours per day.  


Learning from Other Success stories–  

  • Community-based education policy in AFGHANISTAN 
  • Girls' education and women's empowerment in BANGLADESH 
  • Equality of educational opportunity in IRELAND 
  • The Equitable Education Fund in THAILAND 
  • Quality of education for children with disabilities in SOUTHAFRICA 
  • The Compulsory Education Quality Monitoring Report in CHINA 
  • Education for Sustainable Development in GERMANY 

These and many more countries made actionable changes in their educational policies as a decisive step towards achieving SDG4. India has the resources, people and the will to implement similar and even better changes in the education system. 

  

 

References 


 

 

 

 

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