Progress has been made, but we are not on track to meet SDG 4

Neddy Jebet Kipngetich, a teacher at Tuwo ECDE centre, takes her pupils through a class under a tree in Tiaty, Baringo County. [Nanjinia Wamuswa, Standard]

In sports, some people get head starts to even up the challenge. The same has just been done for the global education goal, SDG4, set seven years ago. Because, when that goal was set, the targets were the same no matter what country was involved. All countries were called upon to hit 100 per cent by 2030 in a few areas, such as out-of-school rates, or completion rates, no matter their starting points. For the last couple of years, countries have been addressing this issue. They have taken part in an exercise convened by UNESCO to contextualise those global targets to their national situation. Finally, we have realistic commitments to work with countries on from now until 2030.