The world failed on its promise for all children to go to primary school by 2015. That year, the new education goal, SDG 4, set the level of ambition a step higher, calling for all young people to complete secondary school by the year 2030. To achieve this, all children of school starting age should have begun school in 2018, but only 70% did so in low-income countries. Today, 244 million children are out of school.
Around one in sixty children, most of them in low-income countries, will never go to school. Girls are still more likely than boys to never go to school, as discrimination against them means that they are expected to carry out childcare and other household responsibilities.
According to countries' own SDG 4 benchmarks for the progress they expect to be able to make by 2030 , 84 million children are at risk of still being out of school by the deadline.
| SDG 4 Targets | GEM Report monitoring chapters | Most recent statistics | GEM Report Blogs |
|---|---|---|---|
| TARGET 4.1: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION | 2021/2 GEM Report 2020 GEM Report 2019 GEM Report 2017/8 GEM Report 2016 GEM Report | 4.1 statistics | View blogs |
| TARGET 4.2: EARLY CHILDHOOD | 2021/2 GEM Report 2020 GEM Report 2019 GEM Report 2017/8 GEM Report 2016 GEM Report | 4.2 statistics | View blogs |
| TARGET 4.3: TECHNICAL, VOCATIONAL, TERTIARY AND ADULT EDUCATION | 2021/2 GEM Report 2020 GEM Report 2019 GEM Report 2017/8 GEM Report 2016 GEM Report | 4.3 statistics | View blogs |
