By Guglielmo C.
On the 17th December, 2020, Pope Francis gave a speech to the United Nations in which he addressed the 2030 Agenda’s fourth goal of quality of education. He defined teaching as “an act of hope”, and expressed his satisfaction with our addressing of this particularly difficult Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
The objective of this SDG is, as the name suggests, to provide most children in the world with a quality education, all the way to university. This is not an easy task by any means, and the United Nations has divided this objective into several different sub targets. They can then be archived in a few generic groups. The first focuses mostly on children, stressing the importance of granting them a preparation for primary school, as well as protecting them from discrimination, especially the most vulnerable. The next set of goals revolves mostly around adults. These objectives in particular have to do with getting a satisfying job, which is inevitably linked to education, and setting up various institutes capable of giving people the requisite specific technical knowledge. Another one which is far more generic and encompasses all age groups involves reaching a sufficient literacy rate in the world.
The most important target of all, though, may be goal 4.7, which states the importance of schools teaching sustainable development to students, so as to bring about even greater improvements across all fields, from the economy to the environment. This is by far the most crucial point, as children are the future, and educating them in this ethos will contribute to the ultimate realisation of the 2030 Agenda.
In conclusion, SDG number four may be the most difficult goal to attain, the 2030 Agenda, yet it is the most significant, and will require a great collaborative effort from all governments to succeed.