28 August 2015: The global monitoring team of the UN Education For All (EFA) initiative warned of an annual US$39 billion gap in financing for education, low ambition levels, and lack of coordination and accountability in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be adopted by Heads of State and Government in September.

In the first of a blog series leading up to the UN summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, the team highlights concern about the final version of the SDGs, in which an earlier version of targets – to equip “all” youth and adults with skills, literacy and numeracy – now refer to only “significant” or “substantial” increases.

The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015 (GMR 2015), released in April, showed that most countries will not be able to ensure universal upper secondary education in the next 15 years. In its blog post, the GMR team expresses concern that the SDGs may not provide sufficient basis for holding countries accountable for their own progress. The blog calls for the development of clear, commonly agreed indicators that will cover adult and higher education, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and non-formal education. It notes that earlier SDG language about “lifelong learning” has been removed from the final version in favor of a focus on literacy and numeracy, which reflects an outdated notion of education, it says.

Highlighting the GMR 2015 assessment of the US$39 billion annual gap in financing for education, the team pledges to monitor and report on progress in GMR 2016.

EFA is a global movement led by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults. [EFA Blog Post] [Publication: Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2015] [IISD RS Story on GMR 2015]