By Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
This blog was also published by the Global Partnership for Education

SDG 4 indicator 4.6.1 shows the proportion of youth and adults with functional literacy and numeracy skills

Taken together, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a ‘recipe’ for countries to be productive and prosperous, resulting in populations that are well-educated and well-equipped for employment in the 21^st century.

We have already discussed some of the challenges to this vision in this series of blogs on the data for Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on a quality education and lifelong learning for all. Our blog on SDG 4 indicator 4.4.1, in particular, has stressed the importance of information and communications technology (ICT) skills in an increasingly digital world. But above all, we need to be able to read, write and handle basic calculations.

As things stand, however, we face a global learning crisis that threatens the achievement not only of SDG 4, but also every other goal, from poverty reduction to the enhancement of development partnerships. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) rang the alarm bells last September with the most recent data on learning, revealing that 617 million children and adolescents worldwide – six out of ten – are not reaching minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics. Continue reading →

By Silvia Montoya, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
This blog was also published by the World Economic Forum

Skill development is a critical part of preparing for work in the future – even for jobs that do not yet exist. It goes without saying that a child who cannot read, write or perform at least simple mathematics with proficiency will be poorly equipped as an adult to excel in the technology-driven industries of the future.

Next week, two very different – but powerful – groups will be grappling with the ways in which the global learning crisis is in fact a skills crisis threatening the prospects of current generations and those to come. In Geneva at the Global Shapers Annual Summit, about 400 “change-makers” under the age of 30 will be exchanging ways to address the needs of their communities while striving to have a global impact. Just days later, education ministers from G20 countries will meet in Argentina, where the question on everyone’s mind will be: how do we prepare our children and youth for the future? Continue reading →