Commonwealth’s Support to Member States in Achieving SDGs: Emerging Gaps in Education

Abstract

Analysis of gaps in achieving SDG4 requires use of official data gathered by the UNESCO institute of Statistics from member countries. We have presented a comparison of data and trends for three select indicators for SDG4; the comparison is of trends in the indicators between the world and the group of Commonwealth countries. The period is 2015-2020. Data for the year 2021 is not yet available thus making it difficult to use any estimate of impact of Covid-19 based on official figures. We note that Commonwealth countries, as a group are lagging behind the global trends in the selected indicators. What also emerges is that a number of member countries have not furnished data for the indicators. They include a few large countries; some OECD countries are also included. The same countries have a reasonable amount of relevant data in their own national data platforms that are publicly accessible. One suggestion is to extend capacity building support especially to Small island Developing States (SIDs) in data capture and sharing with platforms managed by Inter-Governmental Organisations who are reporting on progress towards SDGs. // Virtually presented by Dr Venkataraman Balaji, Vice President, Commonwealth of Learning, at the 38th Commonwealth Diplomat’s Induction Programme, London, United Kingdom, 9 March 2022.