ECLAC, UNESCO and UNICEF present preliminary results of the regional implementation report of SDG 4

Representatives of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC/UNESCO Santiago) and the UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNICEF LACRO ), met virtually this Tuesday, July 12, 2022 to present the preliminary conclusions of the first regional monitoring report SDG 4 – Education 2030.

In the meeting -parallel to the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) which takes place at the headquarters of the world organization until the 15th of this month- the three organizations made a balance of the implementation of the SDG 4 (which seeks to guarantee inclusive, equitable and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all) in Latin America and the Caribbean, analyzing its achievements and identifying the challenges that can guide educational policy decision-making in the next decade, and thus promote the fulfillment of the objectives set for 2030.

Participating as speakers of the conclusions of the report were Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director of the Social Development Division of ECLAC; Alejandro Vera, Head of the OREALC/UNESCO Monitoring and Planning Section; and Ítalo Dutra, Regional Education Advisor for UNICEF LACRO. The interventions were commented on by Carlos Rodríguez, National Director of Teacher Training of El Salvador (representing the Interim Minister of Education, Science and Technology of that country, José Mauricio Pineda); Robert Silva, President of the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP), from Uruguay; and Andrea García, Secretary of Educational Cooperation and Priority Actions, of the Ministry of Education of Argentina. The meeting was moderated by Leonardo Garnier, Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations for the Summit on the Transformation of Education.

In his welcoming remarks, Leonardo Garnier stressed that without a significant transformation and without allocating the resources that educational investment requires, it will not be possible to achieve the goals of SDG 4. “The report that we present today could not be more timely, since it constitutes an urgent call for this educational transformation and to reaffirm the ethical, social and economic priority of our actions in the educational field”, he declared.

The Director of the Social Development Division of ECLAC, Alberto Arenas de Mesa, explained that seven years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, this report analyzes the implementation of SDG 4 in a context where the pandemic has deepened structural problems. of inequality, poverty and informality.

“Therefore, educational systems face a series of challenges imposed by the health situation. In order to guarantee compliance with SDG 4 and sustain the achievements of recent decades in education, articulated and integrated efforts are required with other dimensions of development, in order to break those critical knots of exclusion,” emphasized the ECLAC representative.

Along with exposing the context of the economic and social situation that the region is going through, characterized by low GDP growth, and an increase in poverty and extreme poverty, and inequality, Arenas de Mesa recalled that the fiscal and increased social spending were key to responding to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. “In Latin America and the Caribbean, central government social spending reached its all-time high in 2020: 13.6% of GDP . The challenge is to maintain sustainable fiscal spending to meet the challenges of a protracted pandemic,” he emphasized.

For his part, Alejandro Vera of the UNESCO Regional Office for Education indicated that although equity challenges persist, the gaps in the completion rate in secondary education have diminished. However, there is evidence of an increase in gaps in access to higher education, both by income quintiles and by sex.

“The goals of SDG 4 were not assured before the pandemic, and even less so now after these two years in which the educational systems of the region have been deeply affected. We see with concern that since 2015 there has been a trend towards a slowdown in access to education for boys, girls and adolescents”, she warned.

Meanwhile, Ítalo Dutra from UNICEF LACRO outlined the challenges for educational policies in the region. He pointed out that there are 10 challenges to face the stagnation of educational inclusion and the crisis, including considering education as a human right, improving coordination between the different educational actors and between the different sectoral efforts, advancing in the development of skills, putting the focus on teachers, prolong the learning process throughout life, and increase educational financing. “We have to think about more efficient management policies for the education budget, both at central and subnational levels,” he indicated.