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Our goal is to ensure quality, safe, and relevant education for all persons affected by emergencies.

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Progress of goal 4 in 2016

Despite progress, the world failed to meet the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015. In 2013, the latest year for which data are available, 59 million children of primary-school age were out of school. Estimates show that, among those 59 million children, 1 in 5 of those children had dropped out and recent trends suggest that 2 in 5 of out-of-school children will never set foot in a classroom. The Sustainable Development Goals clearly recognize that this gap must be closed, even as the international community more explicitly addresses the challenges of quality and equity.

Measuring learning achievement, starting in the early grades, will help to identify where schools are failing to meet their commitments to children and to formulate appropriate remedial action. For example, data for 2013 from 15 Latin American countries show that in six countries, fewer than 50 per cent of third graders had a minimum level of proficiency in mathematics; in three countries, fewer than half were proficient in reading.

At the end of primary school, children should be able to read and write and to understand and use basic concepts in mathematics. However, in 2014, between 40 per cent and 90 per cent of children failed to achieve even minimum levels of proficiency in reading, in 10 African countries, and in nine of those countries, between 40 per cent and 90 per cent of children failed to achieve minimum levels of proficiency in mathematics.

The end of lower secondary education often coincides with the end of compulsory education. By this stage, young people should be able to master subject-related knowledge and skills and possess personal and social skills. Data from 38 countries in the developed regions show that, in the majority of those countries, at least 75 per cent of young people achieved at least a minimum proficiency in reading and/or mathematics; the same was true for only 5 out of 22 countries, in developing regions, for which data were available.

Completion rates for both primary and lower secondary education has been rising steadily since 2000. Completion rates for primary education in both developed and developing regions exceeded 90 per cent in 2013. At the lower secondary level, the gap between developed and developing regions has narrowed substantially, but still stood at nearly 20 percentage points in 2013 (91 per cent for developed regions and 72 per cent for developing regions).

Quality early education provides children with basic cognitive and language skills and fosters emotional development. In the majority of the 58 countries with available data for the period 2009-2015, more than half of children between the ages of 3 and 4 were developmentally on track in at least three of the following domains: literacy, numeracy, physical development, social-emotional development and learning.

Goal 4 strongly supports the reduction of persistent disparities. Worldwide, in 2013, two thirds of the 757 million adults (aged 15 and over) who were unable to read and write were women. Globally, in 2013, 1 in 10 girls were out of school, compared to 1 in 12 boys. Children from the poorest 20 per cent of households are nearly four times more likely to be out of school than their richest peers. Out-of-school rates are also higher in rural areas and among children from households headed by someone with less than a primary education.

To fulfil the promise of universal primary and secondary education, new primary school teachers are needed, with current estimates showing a need for nearly 26 million of them by 2030. Africa faces the greatest challenges in this regard, with nearly 7 in 10 countries experiencing acute shortages of trained primary school teachers. In 2013, only 71 per cent of teachers in sub-Saharan Africa and 84 per cent in Northern Africa were trained in accordance with national standards.

Official development assistance for educational scholarships amounted to around $1.1 billion annually from 2011 to 2013. It totalled $1.2 billion in 2014, with Australia, France and Japan being the largest contributors.

Source: Report of the Secretary-General, "Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals", E/2016/75

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Goal 4 .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform

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Progress of goal 4 in 2016 Despite progress, the world failed to meet the Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015. In 2013, the latest year for which data are available, 59 million children of primary-school age were out of school.

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Twelve reasons why the Arab world needs to pay more attention to early childhood development

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Inequality begins early in life. In the Middle East and North Africa region it begins before birth, as prenatal care is not universal, and continues right through early childhood with different levels of access to vital nutrition, health services and early education. Missing out on any one of these key ...

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The first chapter offers an overview of the evidence that the period from before birth to age five is the most important stage of human development. This period is especially crucial as deficits at this early stage tend to be irreversible and to perpetuate cycles of poverty and inequality. The many dimensions of healthy ECD, from proper healthcare and nutrition to early development activities, are identified along with the range of related indicators used to measure the state of ECD in the region.

Chapter 2 offers a comparison with other regions of the world, for a better understanding of the state of ECD in MENA,. The twelve countries of the region are also compared, to establish benchmarks and identify country-specific deficits in ECD. The chapter includes an analysis of the factors that influence ECD, as there is significant inequality of access to key development activities even in the region's more developed countries.

Chapter 3 shows that economic growth alone will not address the many shortfalls in the region's ECD. Targeted interventions are needed. The chapter provides a way forward with a number of approaches from around the world that have been implemented successfully and which would benefit children in MENA.

Chapter 4 offers an overview of ECD in Algeria which has achieved good immunization rates but has high rates of stunting due to malnutrition, and where a child's social and economic background influences the chances of healthy development.

Chapter 5 offers an overview of ECD in Djibouti where prenatal and delivery care is now almost universal but child mortality rates are still high and less than one third of children are fully immunized by the age of one.

Chapter 6 offers an overview of ECD in Egypt where stunting is a major and persistent problem and disadvantaged children are the least likely to benefit from early schooling, although immunization rates have reached 92%.

Chapter 7 offers an overview of ECD in Iraq where only half of children are receiving regular prenatal care, less than two-thirds are fully immunized and access to key development activities is closely related to social and economic background.

Chapter 8 offers an overview of ECD in Jordan which has achieved near universal coverage for prenatal and neonatal care, and while rates for stunting are low there is large variation in nutrition status, with a child from the poorest segment of society seven times as likely to be stunted as a child from the richest.

Chapter 9 offers an overview of ECD in Lebanon which has also achieved near universal coverage for prenatal and neonatal care but where only half of all children are fully immunized by age one and poorer children are more likely to be stunted.

Chapter 10 offers an overview of ECD in Libya before the current crisis, where 87% of all children were fully immunized but only half had access to iodized salt, essential for cognitive development, and more than one fifth were stunted.

Chapter 11 offers an overview of ECD in Morocco where 90% of children are fully immunized but almost one third are stunted and deaths in the first month and year of life are above regional averages, with the poorest children facing greater risk of death.

Chapter 12 offers an overview of ECD in Syria before the current crisis, where 96% of births were assisted by a skilled attendant but only 78% of one-year-olds were fully immunized and over one quarter of all children were stunted.

Chapter 13 offers an overview of ECD in Tunisia which has achieved near universal prenatal and delivery care and early mortality has fallen below regional averages, but children in rural areas have one third the chance of urban children to attend early education and 22% of children aged 5 are engaged in child labor.

Chapter 14 offers an overview of ECD in the West Bank and Gaza which has achieved near universal coverage for prenatal and delivery care but stunting remains a persistent problem and there are large differences in access to early care and education between advantaged and disadvantaged children.

Chapter 15 offers an overview of ECD in Yemen before the current crisis where less than half of all births received prenatal care and children were more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday (7%) as they were to attend early childhood education (3%).

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Expanding Opportunities for the Next Generation, Early Childhood Development in the Middle East and North Africa

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The first chapter offers an overview of the evidence that the period from before birth to age five is the most important stage of human development. This period is especially crucial as deficits at this early stage tend to be irreversible and to perpetuate cycles of poverty and inequality.

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A new vision for early childhood education in the Middle East and North Africa

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The importance of the early years for children's development cannot be overstated. Ample evidence from rigorous long-term studies suggests that high-quality early childhood education (ECE) yields numerous benefits for children that affect them well into adulthood. ​

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Saudi Arabia