Ei-iE

AP / vide
AP / vide

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4

In 2015, all countries committed to achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Education International played a critical role in securing a stand-alone goal for education - Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4): Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Significantly, SDG4 recognised that quality education can only be delivered by qualified teachers.

However, at the current pace, governments will fail to achieve SDG 4. The COVID-19 pandemic poses additional challenges, and risks reversing years of progress on education. Urgent and decisive action is imperative.

Together with our member organisations around the world we are working to ensure that governments live up to their promise to achieve SDG 4 and all its targets by 2030.

  • We monitor progress and hold governments accountable.
  • We advocate for enhanced domestic financing for public education through fair and progressive taxation and international aid.
  • We oppose corporate interests that treat education as a market instead of a public good accessible to all.
  • We promote quality education that is free from violence, develops the “whole child”, builds tolerance, understanding, democracy, respect for human rights and active citizenship for sustainable development.
  • We promote the achievement of the “teacher target” (target 4.c), underlining every students’ right to be taught by a trained and qualified teacher.

Our work in this area

  1. Publications

    ActionAid-EI education financing toolkit

    10 December 2009

    This is a toolkit for establishing a strong system that will finance education regardless of country to origin or cultural background. These guidelines seek to help responsible countries end their lack of funding for education whether by domestic or international pressure.

    ActionAid-EI education financing toolkit
    1. Download
  2. News 9 December 2009

    EI supports demands by academic community in Latvia

    On 1 December, Latvian Higher Education Staff and Student Unions held a demonstration against budget cuts in the higher education and research sector. EI offers its full solidarity to the Latvian academic community, and has, together with ETUCE, made clear its support for the demands being made.

    EI supports demands by academic community in Latvia
  3. News 26 October 2009

    EI urges increased funding for Vocational Education and Training

    Now, more than ever, governments should be investing in Vocational Education and Training (VET) as part of a constructive response to the global economic crisis, not cutting back on opportunities to train young people, up-skill the current work force, and encourage lifelong learning across society.

    EI urges increased funding for Vocational Education and Training
  4. News 13 October 2009

    Stand up against poverty!

    Education International is once again joining with the Global Call to Action against Poverty and the United Nations Millennium Campaign in supporting the annual Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty campaign.

    Stand up against poverty!
  5. News 9 October 2009

    African teachers call upon their governments to invest in early childhood education

    Representatives of EI member organisations meeting in Accra last week called upon their governments to invest in early childhood education. This call was made at a seminar organised by Education International in Accra, Ghana, from 29 -30 September.

    African teachers call upon their governments to invest in early childhood education
  6. News 5 October 2009

    World Teachers’ Day: "Build the future: Invest in teachers now!"

    In the face of the global economic crisis, it is vitally important that governments invest significantly in public education, making it a cornerstone of economic recovery plans. Education International, the global union federation representing 30 million teachers around the world, is appealing to the international community to take urgent action...

    World Teachers’ Day: "Build the future: Invest in teachers now!"
  7. News 25 September 2009

    EI to hold Early Childhood Education seminar in Accra

    EI member organisations from several African countries will converge in Accra, Ghana, for an Early Childhood Education seminar. The seminar, whose theme is, “Quality Early Childhood Education: Every Child’s Right”, will be held from 29 – 30 September and hosted by the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT).

    EI to hold Early Childhood Education seminar in Accra
  8. Research

    Public private partnerships in education

    9 September 2009

    In an era of stretched public budgets and reduced taxation revenues, the involvement of private resources is increasingly seen as a strategy to sustain expansion of education opportunities both in quantity and quality. This view is shared not only by governments and industry, but also by many unions.

    Public private partnerships in education
    1. Download
  9. 2 September 2009

    What the IMF and Central Bankers knew, but didn’t tell us

    One of the principal announcements coming out of the G20 Summit in London last April was the launch of the Financial Stability Board, which is meant to ensure global financial stability and especially to set up measures which would prevent another crisis in the future. It will bring together major...

    What the IMF and Central Bankers knew, but didn’t tell us
  10. 1 September 2009

    Reintegrating prisoners through education

    Sophie Dupont, a business education teacher, parks her modest car outside an imposing building. At the entrance gate, she shows her ID card. Smiling, she greets the guard, who then hands her a beeper. She has to wait until one gate is fully closed before the next one opens. Only...

    Reintegrating prisoners through education
  11. News 12 August 2009

    Education now a right for Indian children

    The Indian government has approved a landmark bill which guarantees free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill was unanimously passed in the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper House of Parliament in late July and was successfully voted...

    Education now a right for Indian children
  12. News 22 July 2009

    India passes Right to Education Bill

    India has passed a landmark bill providing for free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14. In a vote held 20 July, the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper House of Parliament, gave unanimous approval to The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill.

    India passes Right to Education Bill
  13. News 17 July 2009

    Academic Freedom International Study

    A joint publication of EI and the University and College Union of the UK, this study highlights constraints on academic freedom in five countries: Burma, Colombia, Israel, Palestine and Zimbabwe.

    Academic Freedom International Study
  14. News 8 July 2009

    The academic profession discussed at the World Conference on Higher Education

    EI, together with close to 40 representatives from EI-affiliated higher education unions, has been actively participating in the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education in Paris which started on 5 July with EI’s Vice-President Irene Duncan Adanusa intervening in one of the opening sessions.

    The academic profession discussed at the World Conference on Higher Education
  15. 8 July 2009

    Speech by Penni Stewart, President of the Canadian Association of University Teachers at the World Conference on Higher Education organised by UNESCO in Paris, 7 July 2009

    I want to address the state of the academic profession, both by looking back at developments and progress made since the last World Conference, but also by looking forward to where we might be going. Of course, the overriding issue today is how the current global economic recession may affect...

    Speech by Penni Stewart, President of the Canadian Association of University Teachers at the World Conference on Higher Education organised by UNESCO in Paris, 7 July 2009