Education's Impact on Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainability

This discussion post examines the critical role of education in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The post highlights education as a fundamental right and a powerful tool for global development, emphasizing its impact on poverty reduction, economic growth, and health outcomes. The authors discuss how education increases wages, empowers women, and promotes business ownership, particularly in lower-income countries. Furthermore, the discussion addresses education's influence on improving nutrition, reducing child mortality, decreasing maternal mortality, and fostering social transformation by addressing gender discrimination and promoting family planning. The post also highlights the economic benefits of education, such as increased GDP growth and improved learning outcomes, ultimately positioning education as a key catalyst for achieving a more sustainable and equitable future.

Sustainable development begins with education
Afra:
UN launched 17 sustainability goals for the betterment of the future generation and the
planet. The catalyst for meeting these targets and goals is education. How 2030 agenda can
be achieved through education?
Govinda:
Education is the most essential tool for a sustainable development and it is a fundamental
right for every citizen of the country. Education helps in achieving a broad development
agenda globally.
Educational qualification helps in increment of wages for the permanent employees. People
with higher qualification are paid more than those with less qualification. They are rewarded
for their high productivity. A year of education helps in 10% increment in the salary annually
on an average (UNESCO 2011, pp 7). Educating females have saved millions of girl child
from early marriage and other risky oriented events and rituals (UN Women, 2011/12;
UNDP, 2014; World Bank, 2007, 2014/15 cited in Vladimirovaa and Blanc, 2015).
Nala:
I totally agree with Govinda. The educated people can start their own business expecting a
high return on investment and in turn the profitability. In places like Uganda, the household
enterprises owner having primary qualification earns 36% more than the people having no
education. Whereas, people with lower secondary degree earns 56% more (UNESCO, 2014,
pp 1).

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Education is the key element for reducing poverty. According to UNESCO (2011), 12% cut
in poverty globally can be lifted in lower income countries with fundamental reading skills.
This will result in pulling 171 million people out of poverty. What other perspectives of SDG
can you suggest?
Afra:
Improvement in nutrition can also be achieved through education. Primary education in the
lower income countries can lessen the suffering of 1.7 million children from stunting. This
will increase to 12.2 million in case of women completing their secondary education. In all
the South Asian countries, children stunting can be prevented if all the mothers pursue
secondary education (UNESCO, 2014). In Bangladesh diversity in the diets of the family
became 10% more when both mother and father had secondary educational qualification.
Govinda:
Policy-makers focusing mainly on health, ignores the fact that education is a health
intervention (sustainabledevelopment.un.org). Educated individuals have better knowledge
about diseases. Thus, they can take precautions or prevent them in case of early detection.
They utilize the services provided by the health care more effectively. For example, the death
rate of children of age 5 and below has decreased from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in
2012 reported by UNICEF, The World Bank Group, The United Nations Department Of
Economic and Social Affairs and The World Health Organization (WHO) (www.who.int).
Nala:
I agree totally. In order to eliminate child deaths, strict actions should be taken by 2030 and
education should play an important role in that. In lower income countries, secondary

2DIGITAL MARKETING OF DWAYNE JOHNSON
education will decrease the mortality rate by 49% which in turn will save 3 million lives
(UNESCO, 2014).
Govinda:
Education not only helps to decrease the death rate of children, but also lessens the risk of
birth and pregnancy in women. Mortality ratio of mothers fell by 3.1% annually on an
average between 1990 and 2010, which was quite below the required rate of 5.5% in order to
achieve the global goal. Primary education will decrease the rate of mortality by 66%
(UNESCO, 2014).
Afra:
Social transformation can be brought through education involving women, boys, men and
girls for developing a better society. Education can help women overcome the challenges of
gender discrimination. This will help them to make the correct choices in their lives. Women
can claim for their rights to overcome the various challenges and barriers in order to enjoy the
fruits of societal progress, only through proper education. The freedom of choosing one’s
spouse by oneself is one of those rights. This can happen by educating the women
(UNESCO, EFA Report, 2013/14).
Nala:
I agree with Afra. In South West Asian countries and in Sub-Saharan schools, primary
schooling will reduce the rate of child marriage. Children below the age of 15 will not be
forced to get married and the rate of child marriage will decrease by 14%. Less number of
girls will get married. Education will also provide women with more knowledge for planning
a family and deciding the size of the family. Education enhances the confidence in women
and changes their perception of freedom (UNESCO, EFA Report, 2013/14).

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Govinda:
The average increment in the educational attainment of any country’s population is 2% to
2.5% per capita growth in the GDP each year. This implies that per capita income increases
by 26% in 45 years. Whereas, increase in the score of Mathematics by 70 points in Mexico
will help in reaching the average of OECD. Thus, reforms with effective budget can change
the economic background of the country, which will improve the quality and learning
outcomes representing a good investment.