Our Common Agenda Policy Brief 10: Transforming Education

The right to education and lifelong learning is at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development because education, knowledge and learning are central to the dignity, growth and development of the individual. For centuries, education has been the great equalizer, a driving force of nation-building, and the engine of social, cultural, economic and technological progress. Today, however, beset by twin crises of equity and relevance, education as we know it is no longer fit for purpose. Against a global backdrop of unprecedented wealth and severe inequalities, progress towards the education-related Sustainable Development Goals and targets has faltered. Hundreds of mil lions of children and young people remain out of school. Billions of those in school are not even acquiring the basics. Girls continue to encounter discrimination in education and, as elsewhere, the most vulnerable and marginalized – low-income groups, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, refugees and displaced per sons, among others – are being hit hardest. All the while, global inequities in education financing are making it almost impossible for low- and middle- income countries to catch up.