The 'Incheon Declaration' was formulated at the World Education Forum held in Incheon, South Korea in May 2015. Through this declaration, all UN member states, including India, expressed their support for 'Sustainable Development Goal-4' (SDG 4) which aims to provide quality education for all and promote lifelong learning opportunities by 2030. Achieving this goal is not only limited to education, but plays a vital role in human resource development, poverty eradication, eradication of inequalities and building peaceful and empowered societies. There are a total of ten sub-goals under this SDG 4 education goal. These range from pre-primary education to higher education, from professional training to teacher quality.
There is only five years left to achieve these goals set as the 2030 deadline. It seems almost impossible for India to achieve this goal in the next five years. According to the 'Sustainable Development Report-2025'... Finland (first place with a score of 87), Sweden and Denmark are at the top of the list. India (with a score of 67) entered the top 100 for the first time, ranking 99th out of 167 countries. However, our neighboring countries like China (49th), Bhutan (74th), Nepal (85th) and Sri Lanka (93rd) are faring better than our country. This shows the backwardness of our country in achieving the target.
Despite significant progress in enrollment of students in terms of pre-primary and primary education in our country, the lack of quality in education continues to plague us. The revelations of the Annual Status of Education Report–2024 (ASER) are startling. In public schools in rural India – only 23.4 percent of third-grade students can read a text at a second-grade level. Only 33.7 percent are able to make deductions!
According to UDISE 2024–25 data... Enrollment of students is decreasing significantly as they move up the classes. At present the enrollment of students at the primary school level is 98 percent. Enrollment of upper primary (classes 6–8) students is 90.3 percent, while secondary level (class 9–10) student enrollment is 78.7 percent. Among them, the enrollment of students belonging to SC and ST social groups is even less. Also, the position of our country is far behind compared to other countries in terms of vocational education. According to CII report-2024 calculations, our country spends only 2.7-2.9 percent of GDP on education. This is much lower than the Kothari Commission, NEP-2020 recommendation (6 percent). Countries like Sweden (6.7–6.9 per cent), UK (5.3–5.6 per cent) and China (3.9 per cent) are much better than us.
In order to reach the targets of 'SDG 4' as prescribed... ECCE coverage should be increased to 100 per cent. The 'Nipun Bharat' program should be strengthened. Teacher training should be improved. In addition to this, at least 6 percent of the GDP should be spent on education. Vocational education with work-based training must be implemented at secondary and higher levels. Partnership with industries should be increased. ITIs should be modernized immediately. Internet and digital infrastructure should be provided in rural areas. Educational gaps should be eliminated through special programs, scholarships, distribution of digital devices to SC, ST, OBC students. Dropout rates in secondary education should be reduced.
If the current pace continues, the 2030 goals will remain only on paper. India urgently needs to implement policy reforms in every aspect of education. India should transform its education system by learning from the experiences of East Asian countries, Finland, Sweden, Germany. href="https://www.andhrajyothy.com/andhra-pradesh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AP NewsAndTelugu News
