Topic Exploration by Xitlaly VenegasLopez

Goal #4 Quality Education

s1751577 — 2025-01-14 19:39:14 UTC

Education is important for someone's future and should be accessible worldwide. This is a goal that must be achieved so that every child has an opportunity to do great things. I would love for others to have that opportunity I was able to have.

The Consequences of the Pandemic

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 04:48:20 UTC

According to the SDG page, the pandemic caused learning losses in 4 in 5 of 105 countries studied. This was a huge set back on expanding and bettering the quality of education.

What Makes a Quality Education?

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 04:58:20 UTC

A place that will teach your child the way they need to learn.
Making sure the school size fits your needs, as well as your children's the best
Having teachers and staff members who go above and beyond, while being dedicated.

What Are Basic Needs for Quality Education?

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 05:05:48 UTC

Electricity (The share of schools connected to electricity from 2015-2020 rose from 66% to 76% in primary and from 77% to 86% in lower secondary education.)
Safe Place to Learn (School-related violent acts or threats can be psychological, physical or sexual and occur on school premises but also on the way to school, at home or in cyberspace.
Water and Sanitation Facilities (Over 20% of primary schools in Central and Southern Asia and in Eastern and South-eastern Asia lack functional single-sex bathrooms, as do 83% in Mali and 94% in Togo.)

Some Targets for Goal #4!

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 05:29:57 UTC

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

What if?

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 05:39:02 UTC

If we don't continue to achieve goal number four, there are thousands of negative impacts that could occur. Before we start to look at the quality of education, we must address the fact that there are 250 million children not in school at all.Not being on track with countries’ targets already means that 58 million who should have been in school already by now, if progress were steady, have been denied their chance to go to primary school.

But we can turn progress around. #EverySchoolDayCounts. We need to enroll a child every 2 seconds between now and 2030 if countries are to achieve their targets.

What We Can Do?

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 05:41:57 UTC

Visit your local school and ask what school supplies they need. Start a school supply drive in your community.
Find a Goal 4 charity you want to support. Any donation, big or small, can make a difference!
Mentor young people. You can provide tutoring and homework assistance, teach a language or deliver a lesson on the Global Goals.
Donate your used books. The easiest way to give access to knowledge is to donate your used books to someone.

School Funding in Africa

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 19:13:04 UTC

We have seen a pattern throughout this goal, everyone was greatly impacted by Covid-19. Africa is still recovering from educational opportunities lost to Covid-19, the AUC and the UNICEF identifies practical options for governments to boost investments in education systems. These options will accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2016-25 in line with the African Union Agenda 2063.

School Funding in Asia

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 19:18:55 UTC

Spending on education has been earmarked in the Education 2030 Agenda – Sustainable Development Goal 4 to receive at least 4% of GDP and/or 15% of national expenditure on public services. Analyzing available data for countries from Asia-Pacific between 2015 since the inception of SDG 4 for the subsequent 5-year period showed that some countries have made adjustments accordingly to match the set-out percentage recommendations, while other countries have moved further away from them. Essentially, Asia is spending more funding on education than other countries. In fact, 500% planned increase in spending on higher and technical education in India in its current 5-year plan.

School Funding in Europe

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 19:19:14 UTC

All across Europe, the government is recognized as the main funding source for education. This can be both a good and bad thing. Education, in a life-long learning approach, is a key soft infrastructure pillar of the European Union’s €300 billion Global Gateway investment strategy. Guided by the key principles of equity and inclusion, the Global Gateway education investments aim above all to ensure quality education and skills training for all. In particular in basic education and with a focus on girls. Of the €3 billion education programs funded from the EU international partnerships budget since 2021, 92% target gender equality, significantly increasing investments to enhance girls’ education and skills.

School Funding in South America

s1751577 — 2025-01-16 19:19:34 UTC

South America, also known as Latin America, has an education system generally lacking and is behind most developed countries. Despite the relevance of school funding policies to improve educational quality and equity, there is little systematic analysis that compares education finances across Latin American countries. Brazil has the widest funding gap due to inequalities in local revenues between high- and low-socioeconomic-status regions. However, the country's funding gap has narrowed over time. School funding in Colombia has become more regressive, but its gap is half the size of the gap in Brazil.

2030 Goal

s1751577 — 2025-01-17 20:15:46 UTC

Central America has recognized the issues they have regarding quality education and what it is they need to work on. Without additional measures, an estimated 84 million children and young people will stay out of school by 2030 and approximately 300 million students will lack the basic numeracy and literacy skills necessary for success in life.

In addition to free primary and secondary schooling for all boys and girls by 2030, the aim is to provide equal access to affordable vocational training, eliminate gender and wealth disparities, and achieve universal access to quality higher education. Their progress was set back tho due to COVID-19 which had impacted many.

What is the main reason as to why Central America is lacking in quality education?

s1751577 — 2025-01-17 20:15:54 UTC

Education is a human right, and it is an opportunity every child should have access to. It sets them up for the world and their future, giving them a chance to become successful. In many Central American countries, inadequate infrastructure and insufficient resources hinder the delivery of quality education. Remote and rural areas in particular,often face the brunt of this issue, with schools lacking basic amenities such as proper classrooms.This leads to overcrowded conditions and presents an obstacle for students to focus and learn effectively. Because of this, not only are many children removed from schools, but teachers tend to ignore the needs of many students. Numerous schools in Central America lack access to modern educational tools and technology, putting students at a disadvantage in terms of digital literacy.

What Region is Severely Struggling with Bettering the Quality of their Education?

s1751577 — 2025-01-17 20:16:00 UTC

A significant portion of Central America, particularly countries like Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, experience low quality education. Universities in Colombia have produced around 400 patents and Chilean universities around 800, while in Central America only the public University of Costa Rica (UCR) has produced 44. Investment in infrastructure has also been deficient, something that is quite clear to students in the region. Some Central American countries have a very low graduation rate: Honduras, 21.4%; Guatemala, 24.9%; Nicaragua, 33.9% and El Salvador, 36.5%.

Solutions to this Issue

s1751577 — 2025-01-17 20:16:04 UTC

Peru faces challenges in bridging the educational gap between urban and rural areas. Investment in infrastructure, teacher training, and policies that address the unique needs of rural communities is crucial for fostering inclusive education. In 2022, the Higher Education Program at NPH Peru continued to support older youths in their university studies and transition to adulthood. Building accessibility features into school infrastructure at the outset increases the total cost by just 1%, whereas incorporating accessibility features later down the road increases the cost by 5% or more. (GEM, 2020) In Mozambique, one-quarter of all students with disabilities dropped out due to difficulties traveling to school, including barriers like a lack of paved roads or motor transport. In India, connecting a village with a paved road increased lower secondary attendance 7%, with children staying in school longer and performing better on standardized tests. This can be fixed by investing into building better roads, bigger buildings, etc. rather than other things.

What are effective strategies that could be taken, to encourage more women to get an education/go to school?

s1751577 — 2025-01-23 19:18:13 UTC

How could the basic needs for Quality education in Central America be provided by the government and citizens?

s1751577 — 2025-01-23 19:18:26 UTC

What evidence is there of strategies being used in Central America to better the quality of education?

s1751577 — 2025-01-23 19:30:57 UTC

DRAFT TOPIC PROPOSAL

s1751577 — 2025-01-27 03:43:11 UTC

I think I want to research the issue of insufficient school funding which must be addressed to reach SDG goal #4. I will focus on Central America and the reasons why the quality of education is so low in this region. Some of them being the lack of good infrastructure or access to an education. I want to research this since the next generation is the future, and I wish for every child in the world to have the opportunities I have. The opportunity to become successful and to learn.

School Funding in Central America

s1751577 — 2025-01-27 04:34:12 UTC

Education spending has significantly increased in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) over the last few decades. Most education systems in the region have improved teacher salaries, and introduced programs that focus on improving learning in the most disadvantaged schools and systemic accountability. Overall school autonomy is low, with Colombia and Peru exhibiting the lowest levels and Chile the highest. The COVID-19 pandemic created new opportunities in the education sector for virtual education programs. One of the main challenges for the governments of each country is access to the Internet and the lack of availability of computers for each student.

School Funding Fun Facts

s1751577 — 2025-01-27 05:20:47 UTC

Europe has the country with the highest school funding.
Luxembourg, which is the country to spend the most on education per student each year, contributes roughly 5% of its overall GDP to education annually.
The USA international student market is estimated at over 51 billion EUR, ranking number 1 as a study abroad destination. This value is mostly generated by students coming from China, India, Korea, Canada and Japan.
The second destination for international students is the UK, where the international studies market is estimated at over 5.3 billion EUR, generated mostly by students from China, India, Germany, United States and Ireland. If you feel ready to meet them, here are a few British universities we recommend.
With a total market value of over 3.1 billion EUR generated by international students, Australia ranks third in top study abroad destinations. This value is mostly created by students from China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Canada. If you want to join them, we recommend the following universities.
The international student market in Japan is assessed at almost 2 billion EUR, generated by students from China, South Korea, Indonesia, and the United States. Some of the top-ranked universities in the country are.

Opinions

s1751577 — 2025-01-27 05:24:50 UTC

The more developed countries seem to put education as a higher priority, and an investment into the future. They tend to prioritize educational funding to improve the quality of their education, via the region. The developing countries have lower funding, but are still trying to progress. There seems to be a pattern where COVID-19 set back many countries' education, even those that are developed. There is still a lot that must be done in order to accomplish Goal #4.

Challenges Faced by this Goal

s1751577 — 2025-01-29 05:33:58 UTC

Like many goals that we want to achieve, the goals Central America has set for themselves which involve bettering the quality of education, have many obstacles. The region is facing a challenge with regard to school dropout and the retention of students in secondary education, because students are unlikely to return once they have left the education system. Not only this, but it is a challenge to attract and retain committed teachers and thereby foster the provision of quality education delivered from a people-centred perspective that treats the pupil as an individual. Although, some of the benefits of accomplishing this goal would be giving women access to education and health on an equal footing to enable them to gain access to decent jobs.