Group9_D | SDG 4: Quality Education
Group9_D | SDG 4: QUALITY EDUCATION
Authors: Abhishek Kumar (BD20004) | Arihant Jain (BD20014) | Eshan Jain (BD20027) |
Navdeep Redhal (BD20039) | Nikhil Kumar (BD20040) | Pranay Modi (BD20043) |
Vadalkar Sarthak Ram (BD20069)
Image Courtesy: AIESEC in Australia
“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”, Nelson Mandela once quoted. A good education is everyone’s right and it must be accessible to everyone. The SDG 4 aims towards every child getting quality, equitable and free education, by 2030. The campaign has picked up immensely since 2004. The developing countries are working in the direction of 100% literacy, and the corporates and the leading nations of the world play an essential role in it.
According to the UN’s report, one in every four girls is deprived of basic primary education in the developing countries. And more than 10 crore youth worldwide lack the basics of literary skills, out of which 60% are women. Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and conflict-affected areas globally are the regions where it is most prevalent. The access to childhood development, basic care, primary & secondary education and vocational skills is extremely crucial in today’s day and age. Quality education is one goal that is directly or indirectly connected to all of the SDGs, since it is necessary to have information and knowledge to meet the goals. Evidently, the most important aspect is Quality Teachers. There have to be teachers with relevant background and qualification, for every field, and proper training and incentives need to be provided for that. Hence, this SDG also focuses on the development of a substantial number of knowledgeable teaching professionals.
Lack of education is one big obstacle in the growth and development of societies. It stops the minds from adopting new perspectives and creating value out of work. In a developing country like India, where primary facilities are not available to everyone, Quality Education becomes a huge differentiating factor.
RELEVANCE OF QUALITY EDUCATION IN INDIA
Being one of the most important SDG, quality education is the foundation of sustainable development of any economy. It is the key for a country to become self-reliant, get skilled labour and boost the growth of the economy through opening up opportunities for better livelihood. Almost 20% of the total public expenditure is to be spent on education according to a draft of National Education Policy of 2019.
Currently India’s expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP is lower than the world average. Primary focus should be on improving the quality of education and the access to it. In addition to that other obstacles like gender inequality, armed conflict among others. Currently the national youth literacy rate is 94% for males and 92% for females. The primary objective of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched by the government is to provide universal quality education to all Indians.
Some of the targets of SDG 4 set by the government are as follows:
Ensure free, equal and quality primary and secondary education for both girls and boys by 2030
Ensure fair access to high-quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university, for both women and men by 2030
By 2030, improve the technical and vocational skills of the youth of India for them to have decent jobs.
To provide a safe and an effective learning environment by upgrading the educational facilities.
Increase the number of qualified teachers through domestic and international cooperation for training the teachers.
Increase the number of scholarships available through various programmes and collaborations.
BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS & RESPONSES
“By education I mean an all-round drawing of the best in child and man in body, mind and spirit.”- Mahatma Gandhi.
Education has the capacity to bring change in the world. It is one of the fundamental factors of growth and development. Education helps people understand themselves and the world around them.
Low literacy rate and lack of quality education impacts the growth of the company. Companies find it challenging to recruit the right talent, which increases the cost of recruitment. And, after recruiting, the cost of training is also very high. A report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows that the demand for skills requirement has changed over the past 5 years (2015-2020).
The India Skills Report 2019 found that only about 46.21 percent of students are employable. There is a huge scope of development by making the students skillful. The New Education policy 2020 approved by the Union Cabinet is aimed to impart high quality educations which will be at par with global standards and to develop skills in students from a younger age.
Source: World Literacy Foundation
Today, businesses are aware of the fact that education improves the productivity and creativity of the employees. They strive to get the best workforce to excel in their respective fields, but still a huge number of people are deprived from basic education. Many companies came forward to help disseminate better education. Few responses to such noble steps are as follows:
Accenture
Accenture supported Quest alliance (non-profit trust) in bridging education and skill divide by enabling self-learning for young people between 10 and 35 years. Accenture helped to build a blended learning model which combines digital learning tools with transitional classroom models. Accenture's Skills to Succeed Academy is a free, highly interactive and offers online training program that helps disadvantaged young people in building their career choices.
Udaan
Udaan impactful project named Kilkari supported the basic education of children belonging to JJ-clusters surrounding Delhi-NCR. It provides vocational training with special education and schooling for needy children. It encourages its employees to contribute 100 per month and use that part in their major focus areas like providing special education.
ICICI
ICICI foundation works in improving access to quality education and has partnered with the government and various NGOs to improve not only the curriculum but also the quality of teaching staff. ICICI is creating a real difference by improving the infrastructure in schools and also setting out a journey of not only educating children but also improving the quality of education by offering training to teachers.
Tata Steel
A number of initiatives are taken by Tata Steel to improve the availability, accessibility and quality of education. Some of the initiatives are:
Another initiative is the Residential Bridge Course (RBC) center to encourage students to take up education who left it for any reason and provide shelter to them.
ANALYSIS
Since its adoption in 2015, SDGs have laid down the path and milestones that offer countries the cue to upgrade their socio-economic status. The figure indicates the marked progress made by different geographical regions of the world concerning SDG 4, i.e., quality education.
Figure: Progress made by countries in SDG 4
Though the trends seem encouraging, the Brussels Declaration issued during the Global Education Meeting in 2018 reported that the world is not on track to meet the targets set in SDG 4 for 2030. Another publication titled 'Meeting commitments: Are countries on track to achieve SDG 4?' predicts that at the current pace, only 6 out of 10 youngsters will be completing secondary education by 2030. Country's inability to achieve 'relevant and effective learning outcomes' will jeopardize the progress made towards several other SDGs.
The occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic has set the clock back for multiple SDGs, including SDG 4. The closure of schools and daycares and inadequate nutrition due to disruptions in the global supply chain have undone substantial progress achieved by the third world nations.
The High-level Political Forum (HLPF) is the apex body for SDG follow-up & review mechanism. In 2019, HLPF reviewed SDG 4 for the first time since its inception. It’s findings were a wake-up call for all the stakeholders involved in the initiative.
Figure: Trends indicate whether a country is on track to achieve the SDG by 2030
(Source: SDG Index Dashboard)
Countries have stepped up their resolve of attaining SDG 4 targets by aligning their education policy to be in line with the goals specified. India's recently implemented National Education Policy has incorporated almost all the agendas outlined in the SDG, strengthening its derailed campaign for providing quality education.
Figure: Countries integrating SDG 4 with their National Policies on Education
(Source: Beyond Commitments: How countries implement SDG 4)
SUGGESTIONS
The overseeing official body should make provisions in which countries close to the finish line can hand-hold other nations that haven't made any substantial progress.
Exchange of information regarding successful techniques and lessons between nations or even smaller governed entities like cities and villages can expedite the reforms.
Cross-sectoral collaborations such as education & job or education & health should be promoted since the incentives involved in such joint projects can propel the quality education movement faster towards the desired state.
Government's spending on education should increase if they want to keep their chances of achieving the targets by 2030 alive.
The learning environment and the modes of learning needs special attention. The other factors contributing to quality education will have little effect if these are ignored.
The private sector holds the key to achieve the goal of quality education in India. They can provide expertise in innovation, guide the young minds to work optimally and oversee that there are no compromises along the way.
Mere policy formulation is not going to help the cause if there's a lack of proper implementation. Feedback from the stakeholders is essential for refining the process.
(Policy -> Implementation -> Results-> Feedback-> Policy Improvement)
Giving quantitative variables the entire spotlight will not provide the desired change that the world expects once the SDGs are laid to rest. Focus on quality is a must and should be given a higher priority than the numbers.
Existing gaps in the education system need to be identified at the earliest and worked upon. Additionally, a proper monitoring system to track the progress of each individual needs to be built.
Corporates are increasingly supporting the global initiative, but their act can only build upon what the government is doing. Government's over-reliance on the corporates could result in a zero-sum game.
The quality of education goes hand-in-hand with the quality of teachers. Proper training of teachers is one single thing that can lift our prospects of attaining the goals. Suitably crafted incentivization scheme for teachers can be a welcome move in the direction.
While better education has led to greater prosperity, improvements in health and social stability, challenges still remain. Data tell us that without significant investments in the implementation of the SDG 4-Education 2030 Agenda, hard-won gains of recent decades will erode. Since 2000, steady economic progress, slowing population growth and technological advances have enabled countries to broaden access to primary and secondary education and improve levels of gender parity. Countries that had been lagging behind the rest of the nations in educational participation made the most progress in the last few years. SDG 4 has spearheaded the process of bringing about the desired change in the education sector, but its successful attainment lies in the collective effort of the government, the corporates, and the people.
References
- Literacy in India: The gender and age dimension
Quality Education: an SDG - Goal 4: Quality education | UNDP
Department of Economic and Social Affairs sustainable Development - https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4
The Future of Jobs - https://reports.weforum.org/future-of-jobs-2016/skills-stability/
India Skills Report finds 46.21% of students employable - https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/education/india-skills-report-finds-4621-of-students-employable/article30269722.ece
Beyond Commitments-https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNESCO-2019-HLPF_Beyond-en-v7.pdf
Sustainable development report- https://s3.amazonaws.com/sustainabledevelopment.report/2020/2020_sustainable_development_report.pdf
NEP 2020- https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf
SDG Index Dashboard- https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/
Reports of companies
CSR: Tata Steel Foundation bridging the education gap - https://indiacsr.in/csr-tata-steel-foundation-bridging-the-education-gap-in-communities-at-keonjhar-odisha/
Tata Steel - CSR - https://www.tatasteellp.com/community_development/
Udaan CSR Report - https://udaan.org/csr
Accenture – Fueling India’s skill (r)evolution - https://www.accenture.com/t20181127t184030z__w__/in-en/_acnmedia/accenture/conversion-assets/dotcom/documents/local/in-en/pdf-1/accenture-skilling-pov.pdf
ICICI - CSR - https://www.icicibank.com/csr/education.html
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