6 September 2016: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released its Global Education Monitoring (GEM) 2016 report, which underscores the need for rapid progress, if the education targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be achieved. SDG 4 calls to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” The report also considers direct and indirect references to education in the other SDGs, and discusses challenges and opportunities in global education monitoring.

The report, sub-titled ‘Education for people and planet: Creating Sustainable Futures for All,’ highlights areas of need in relation to each of the SDG 4 targets. For example, with regard to early childhood education (target 4.2), so far only 38 countries in the world provide free, compulsory pre-primary education. With regard to skills for work (target 4.3), 65% of adults in the EU in 2014 were able to send an email with an attachment, and 44% could use basic arithmetic formulas in spreadsheets. A UNESCO press release highlighted the GEM Report’s findings that, at the current rate of progress, the world will not achieve universal primary education before 2042, universal lower secondary education before 2059, or universal upper secondary education before 2084.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova highlighted the need for new approaches to meeting the primary education gap for children in low-income country. She emphasized the importance of education as a cornerstone for progress towards other development goals, and the role of education in fostering the skills, attitudes and behavior that will lead to sustainable and inclusive growth.

In a foreword to the report, Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the SDGs, highlights the health initiatives that came out of efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He calls for a Global Fund for Education to be urgently established, building on the lessons of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

UNESCO publishes the GEM Report periodically. The publication was formerly known as the Education for All Global Monitoring Report. Since 2002, 12 such reports have been produced. [Publication: Global Education Monitoring Report 2016] [UNESCO Press Release] [GEM Report Website]