Sustainable Development Goals: SDG4 Targets and Indicators and course corrections due to Pandemic, Achieving Sustainable Goals and Going to Moon Mars and Beyond

SDG4 Targets and Indicators and course corrections due to Pandemic, Achieving Sustainable Goals and Going to Moon Mars and Beyond • In the series of Achieving SDG and Going to Moon, Mars and Beyond, here is the Explanation of SDG4 with correction required for Post Pandemic. What is the SDG4? • In simple language, it’s nothing but Ensuring Quality Education, Life Long Learning for All, and opportunity to get mentorship to acquire skills to prepare to live a Quality Life. Reference: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4 , YouTube URL: https://youtu.be/lWIvJYlmQOE

What are the PROBLEMS visible Post Pandemic, as per the SDG Report 2021? • Minimum Reading Proficiency among 1st to 8th Graders for READING, WRITING is GONE. 55% kids just can’t detect the alphabets or simple spellings even due to gap of almost 2 years, some don’t remember addition and subtraction, multiplication and division even. • The gain of MDG and SDG since last 20 years work is about to get wiped out, due to impact of Pandemic, if we don’t work on war footing on Education to All front. School going students increased from 65% to 73% from 2010 to 2019 before Pandemic, but now due to lack of earning sources parents can’t send their kids to school, and schools are demanding fees as they can’t pay to their teachers and employees, so the chain reaction will have negative impact in case quick actions are not taken. • Worldwide School completion among Primary Education increased from 82% to 85% from 2010 till 2019 and for Secondary Education 46% to 53% and if we go 20 years behind then Primary Education Completion may fall down below 80% and Secondary Education completion may fall down below 45%, meaning waste of efforts of human civilization in the dawn of new millennium. • Our own Experience and Survey: We found in our own surveys that Working parents and parents who were frontline soldiers were literally crying for this diminishing readability value among their kids. • Also, in the Least Developed Countries (LCD) the Only 56% schools have drinking water 33% have electricity and 40% schools have simple hand washing facilities. It needs huge investment with post pandemic corrections. What are the SDG4 Targets and Indicators? · Target 4.1: Ensuring that all boys and girls get quality, free and equitable primary and secondary education till 2030 but as already quoted at the start it needs course correction now due to high impact on Education sector due to global pandemic. What are its Indicators? • A special comment on these ratios or proportions is that Development is not statistical expertise it’s actual work on the grassroot level that is counted, but, it is also true that if we have the data then we can take proper action. So, try understand both the sides of the story, always to get clear picture, without bias, to develop humanity at all the levels in all the spheres of life. • Indicator 4.1.1: It’s a Proportion, for Reading ability and For Basic Mathematics, and the calculations are separate for the girls and the boys: • a. For the Grades 2/3: For Girls: Reading Ability = ? Basic Mathematics skills = ? and For Boys: Reading Ability = ? Basic Mathematics skills = ? • b. At the end of Primary Education: For Girls: Reading Ability = ? Basic Mathematics skills = ? and For Boys: Reading Ability = ? Basic Mathematics skills = ? • c. At the end of Secondary Education For Girls: Reading Ability = ? Basic Mathematics skills = ? and For Boys: Reading Ability = ? Basic Mathematics skills = ? • Indicator 4.1.2: • Completion Rate: Primary Education • Completion Rate: Lower Secondary Education • Completion Rate: Higher Secondary Education • Target 4.2: So after Completion Rate is the J this Target is there, jokes apart. • In this Target by 2030 ensuring that all the governments across the globe that all girls and boys get access to early childhood deployment, and pre primary education so that they are ready learn in future as they enter the primary education system. During pandemic this system across the globe got destroyed so it needs some course correction. • What are indicators? • Indicator 4.2.1: Proportion of children with demarcation of girls and boys, between age 2 to 5 years, are on the track of physical, psychological wellbeing. • Indicator 4.2.2: Children, girls and boys, participating in an organised learning environment before they enter officially into primary schools education. • Target 4.3: Ensuring equal access and affordable Quality Technical, Vocational, Tertiary and University Education to all adults, youth, gents and ladies, across the globe • Indicator 4.3.1: Participation of Youth and Adults in the Education in the last 12 months or 1 year in Formal Education and Informal Education. • Target 4.4: By 2030 all skilled youth and adults should be able to start their job or entrepreneurship journey as per their technical and other relevant professional skills, and numbers should increase substantially over the years. • Indicator 4.4.1: Proportion of youth having relevant ICT skills. (This is some what amazing that only ICT skills have counter here, is it the only thing that kids must learn? Pandemic have proved other life skills were also useful apart from ICT) • Target 4.5: By 2030 All inclusive education should reach to women, to differently able to children to indigenous people to nomadic tribes to people living in vulnerable situations by REMOVING ALL the DISPARITIES. • However, during pandemic there was disruption in all these plans, strategies and activities, hence, we need to resurrect and revive the targets and put some life in them with some extended time frame. • It is humble suggestion here is, that, in case they clubbed with the timeline of going to Moon, Mars and Beyond, it will add fuel to further human evolution towards its supreme being on the mother earth. • What are the Indicators? • 4.5.1: Parity Indices: Education Ratios, and Education Indicators to be disaggregated: • Female/ Male, • Rural / Urban, • Bottom/ Top, • Disability status, • Indigenous people, • Conflict affected people Target 4.6: Ensuring that all women, men achieve the literacy and numeracy by 2030 and can carry on their lives with basic minimum knowledge for quality life. What are the Indicators? • Indicator 4.6.1: It checks the fixed amount of Proficiency in functional Literacy and Numeracy skills. Percentage of Male achieving Literacy and Numeracy , and Percentage of Female achieving Literacy and Numeracy • Target 4.7: Ensuring that all the learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote: • Sustainable Development • Sustainable Life Style • Human rights • Gender Equality • Promotion for Peace and Non Violence • Global Citizenship • Appreciating Cultural Diversity • Cultural Contribution to Sustainable Development What are the indicators? • Extent of Global Citizenship Education, • Education for Sustainable Development right from gender equality to human rights to all SDG • National Education Policy of each nation should align with Sustainable Development parameters • Curricula to be reviewed, revised, refurbished to align with Sustainable Development Parameters • Educating the Teachers for the same • Educating the students with the same aim • Target 4.a: Providing and building such education facilities those are sensitive to taking care of children, ladies, differently able people and are safe, peaceful and inclusive environment for learning for all to learn, develop skills to live quality life and contribute to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. • What are indicators? • Indicator 4.a.1: Proportion of schools offering basic facilities to all • Target 4.b: Improving Admissions to Higher Education, vocational training, Engineering, ICT, STEM, in Developed, Developing, Least Develop countries by increasing number of scholarships for the education and encouraging development in the least developed countries in Africa to developed America. • What are the indicators? • Indicator 4.b.1: Official Records of Volumes of Scholarships offered and given to students by field of studies and type of scholarships • Target 4.c: Increasing number of qualified Teachers and improving quality of Teaching with sharing of skills with international exchange of teachers from Developed countries to least developed states and remote island states. • What are the indicators? • Indicators 4.c.1: Availability of Proportion of Teachers with the minimum required qualifications, by educational level • Some Humble suggestions: In 2006, I proposed modifications in the syllabi from 1st grader to the Ph.D. level, where in the students get basic education to live and skills to Achieve MDG/ Sustainable Development Goals and later to set up human base on Moon, Mars and Beyond. This will make most of the humans all round personalities that could help further Evolution of Humans as Supreme Being on the Mother Earth and wherever in which ever dimensions humans may settle. Let’s try to implement such Education system and Walk the Talk for the forever Human survival. Dr. Ashish Manohar, Solution Master, India , https://youtu.be/lWIvJYlmQOE