Progress of SDG 4 in the Arab Region

A Summary Review (2021)

Executive Summary

This is a snapshot review of the progress of SDG 4 in the Arab region, based upon the national reports of the countries of the region and the valuable inputs from the regional education institutes of the region. In this review, SDG 4 is looked at as an essential part of an interconnected whole of all SDGs. However, it focuses on selected targets and indicators of SDG 4 because of difficulties of accessing consistent data pertaining to the region covering the period from 2010 to 2020.

Therefore, internationally comparable data from various sources have been taken into consideration, highlighting at the same time the overall pictures as revealed by the country reports and flagging their select best practices.

School completion rate

The Arab region has registered better completion rates for primary than lower secondary, indicating that a sizable number of children are dropping out of education after primary level.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are placed at the center of educational progress. The global and regional assessments show that in the Arab region (Western Asia & Northern Africa) student proficiency levels are low warranting more concerted efforts to enhance them.

Teachers’ Training

The pupil-qualified teacher ratio (PQTR) for primary and secondary levels for most countries of the region indicating that the teaching capacity has grown.

ICT Skills

As per the two basic ICT skills, namely, ability to open and type an email and using the copy-and-paste function, there has been moderate increase in the ICT skills in the region.

Best practices from the region

The report reveals good practices from the Arab Region on the topic of disability and education infrastructure, safe school environment, gender sensitive infrastructure, etc.

Assessment of learning loss

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Arab world as much as the rest of the world. An important impact has been learning loss. There is a need to assess such learning loss so that suitable ‘catch-up’ programmes may be designed.

Early childhood education

The SDG4 national reports indicate that early childhood education is promising, with many countries paying attention to ECE laws and policies, school nutrition and healthcare, training of teachers, caregivers and educators, and home-based care programs.

Other issues and challenges

There are three important issues that warrant special focus from policy and planning perspectives and they are: Youth not in employment, education or training Disability and learning Improving data, monitoring and accountability

Way forward

Building statistical capacity to bridge data gaps for several SDG4 indicators for the countries in the region calls for more coordinated efforts to strengthen the capacity of national statistical systems There is also a need to focus on issues relating to:

having necessary policies, frameworks and standards.

strengthening coordination and participation;

improving quality, availability and use of data;

addressing the learning crisis and underpinning the importance of learning assessments;

localization of SDG 4; and addressing issues that matter for accelerating the Education Agenda 2030 in the region.

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