SDG 4 has 10 targets and 12 indicators to measure progress toward targets.

4.1: Free primary and secondary education – By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.

4.2: Equal access to quality pre-primary education – 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: Equal access to affordable technical, vocational and higher education – By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.
4.4: Increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success – By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.

4.5: Eliminate all discrimination in education – By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including people with disabilities, indigenous people and children in vulnerable situation.

4.6: Universal literacy and numeracy – By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.
4.7: Education for sustainable development and global citizenship
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 inclusive and safe schools – Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.
4.B: Expand higher education scholarships for developing countries – 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 enrolment 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: Increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries – 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.

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 helps to reduce inequality and reach gender equality. It also empowers people everywhere to live more healthy and sustainable lives. Education is also crucial in encouraging tolerance between people and contributes to more peaceful societies.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals report in 2019 highlighted three key areas of SDG 4 challenges:

 1) Children and adolescents lack minimum proficiency in reading and mathematics;

 2) More than half of the schools in Sub-Sahara Africa do not have access to basic drinking water facilities, internet and computers;

 3) 27% more girls than boys of primary school age are not attending school.

Average percentages of students in primary, secondary and higher education

The Impact of COVID-19 on SDG 4: Quality Education for All

SDG 4 is meant to be achieved by 2030. However, the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected this path to development.

UNICEF estimates that 463 million children (around 31 percent of children globally) were unable to access remote learning. Most of these students – 3 out of 4 – were located in rural areas and/or experiencing poverty.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the education of women and girls took an especially big hit. Disruptions faced during the pandemic will widen the pre-existing gender gap in education. Girls were more likely to carry a greater burden of domestic and caretaker relities throughout the pandemic, leaving them little time for schooling.

To  provide quality education to the children it is important to invest in scholarships, increasing access to academic sources, training of teachers, school building and improvement of water and electricity access to schools.