Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO, reviews progress against Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 and argues that as a powerful enabler for sustainable development and more inclusive and equal societies, education is a fundamental human right and, now more than ever, the only real passport to freedom.
“Latest data show there are around 262 million children out of school.”
Education has always been a UNESCO top priority, and we are proud to lead and co-ordinate the Education 2030 Agenda, which includes the mammoth tasks of meeting the ten education targets of Sustainable Development Goal 4.
The global reality for an agenda designed to end poverty is sobering. The latest data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) show that there are around 262 million children out of school. Girls still face the greatest barriers to education in most regions, and particularly in subSaharan Africa, where girls of every age are more likely to be excluded from education than boys.
Despite advances made in literacy rates over the past 50 years, there are still 750 million illiterate adults around the world, most of which are women…
Stefania Giannini
Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO
