Goal 4 of 17

Quality education

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

What this goal is about

Goal 4 is about every child getting a good education and every adult having a chance to keep learning. It covers early childhood, primary and secondary school, technical and university education, literacy, skills for work, and the teachers and buildings that make learning possible.

The goal is about learning, not only enrolment. More children finish school than in 2015, but many leave without being able to read a simple text or do basic maths. In 2024, about 273 million children and young people were out of school, and about 754 million adults could not read or write.

Education drives progress on almost every other goal, from health and jobs to gender equality and climate action. It also matters to every business that needs people who can read, calculate, learn new tools and solve problems.

273 millionchildren and young people out of schoolUnited Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, 2024

754 millionadults unable to read or write, 63% of them womenUN DESA, Goal 4 progress data (sdgs.un.org), 2024

61%of young people completed upper secondary schoolUnited Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, 2024

1 in 5teachers lacked national minimum qualificationsUnited Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, 2024

The main targets

4.1

All girls and boys complete free, equitable, quality primary and secondary education with relevant learning outcomes by 2030.

4.2

All children get quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so they are ready for primary school.

4.3

Equal access for women and men to affordable, quality technical, vocational and university education.

4.4

Substantially more young people and adults have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for jobs, decent work and entrepreneurship.

4.5

Eliminate gender gaps in education and ensure equal access for people with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.

4.6

All young people and a substantial share of adults, women and men, achieve literacy and numeracy.

4.a

Build and upgrade schools that are safe, inclusive and suitable for children, people with disabilities and both genders.

4.c

Substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation on teacher training.

Summaries in plain English. The full wording of every target and indicator is on the UN Goal 4 page.

What businesses can do

Budget for staff learning. Give every employee paid time and a small budget to learn each year. The World Economic Forum expects 59 in every 100 workers to need training by 2030.
Offer apprenticeships and internships. Take on paid apprentices or interns from local colleges and vocational schools, with a named mentor and a clear plan for what they will learn.
Support basic literacy and digital skills. Some staff, suppliers or customers may struggle with reading, numbers or apps. Offer quiet support, plain-language materials and short training.
Work with a local school. Offer talks, site visits, mentoring or equipment to a nearby school, and ask teachers what would help rather than deciding for them.
Build learning products for low-bandwidth users. If you make education tools, design for cheap phones, offline use, local languages and teachers' limited time, and protect children's data.

What you can do

Read with someone younger. Reading aloud with a younger sibling, cousin or neighbour for ten minutes a day builds their literacy and your confidence.
Tutor or volunteer safely. Help classmates or join a supervised tutoring or literacy programme through your school or a recognised organisation.
Keep learning after school. Use free, reputable courses and libraries to build new skills, and ask a parent or teacher before creating accounts online.
Speak up for inclusion. Support classmates with disabilities or those who are new to your school, and tell teachers about barriers you notice.

Where digital tools help

Technology helps on Goal 4 when it fits how teachers and students already work: national platforms that put textbooks and lessons online in local languages, offline learning libraries for schools without internet, data that helps teachers group children by level, and tools that save teachers time. Examples include India's DIKSHA platform and Learning Equality's offline Kolibri platform. Devices alone do not improve learning, and fewer than half of primary schools worldwide have computers or internet for teaching, so good tools work offline, respect children's privacy and support the teacher rather than replace them.

Mobile apps Web apps and SaaS