people and planet

9
REACHING CONSENSUS ON THE
POST-2015 EDUCATION TARGETS
In the years and months leading up to the UN General
Assembly decision on the post-2015 development
agenda, it was not known that a standalone global
education goal would be proposed and adopted. Some
countries and development experts preferred to see
education combined with or subsumed under other goals
in the interest of a more concise agenda.
Yet, the EFA Global Monitoring Report had shown that
education is necessary for the achievement of other
development outcomes (UNESCO, 2014a). And education
had considerable popular support around the world.
It emerged as the top priority among the more than
7 million people who contributed to the United Nations’
MY World survey of 2015.
Since 2000, the international education agenda had
been split into two processes: the Education for All
(EFA) goals and the MDG agenda. The EFA goals were
broader in scope, covered most education levels and had
participatory mechanisms. The narrower MDG agenda
focused on universal primary completion and gender
parity in education, and was characterized by relatively
top-down governance arrangements. It was not clear
whether these approaches would merge after 2015 or
remain distinct.
Initially, there were concerns that the SDG education
agenda would be as narrow as its MDG predecessor.
In November 2012, the Global EFA Meeting in Paris
emphasized the importance of ‘ensuring that EFA and
the international development goals are coherent and
mutually reinforcing’ (UNESCO, 2012a; p.4). This assumed
that two parallel agendas would continue to exist; it was
not then evident that EFA would be subsumed under the
SDGs. The main EFA coordination body, the EFA
Steering Committee, therefore worked towards a set
of targets, which education ministries of a large number
of countries endorsed through the Muscat Declaration
at the Global EFA Meeting in Muscat in May 2014
(UNESCO, 2014b).
Concurrently, the intergovernmental Open Working
Group (OWG) process in New York, which member states
had established in January 2013 to propose the SDGs,
was advancing (see Introduction). UNESCO and its EFA
partners had to draw member states’ attention to the
targets in the Muscat Declaration, which eventually was
just one input (albeit timely and influential) into the OWG
process that helped determine the formulation of targets
in the OWG outcome document (United Nations, 2014a).
This cumbersome process meant the OWG outcome
document, a product of delicate political negotiations,
was written in language that was sometimes unclear
and ambiguous. Member states did not want to disrupt
the balance, so at
the World Education
The Open Working Forum in Incheon,
Republic of Korea,
Group outcome
in May 2015, they
document was written simply approved the
OWG targets.
in a language that was
sometimes unclear
The forum opened
and ambiguous
the discussion on
the Education 2030
Framework for Action,
the document that elaborates key concepts and outlines
implementation strategies for SDG 4. The framework
was officially endorsed in November 2015 in Paris. Its
extended commentary on issues ranging from teachers
and finance to monitoring indicators and mechanisms
is the basis upon which much of this report is built
(UNESCO, 2015b).
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE EFA GOALS,
THE MDGS AND THE SDGS
The SDGs, unlike the MDGs, bring the four pillars
of sustainable development (economic, social,
environmental and institutional) under an integrated
framework. The process that resulted in the SDGs was
more transparent and open. Countries, rather than UN
agencies, led the negotiations. The consensus meant
the final product was less elegant and concise, having
to accommodate many interests. But there is a stronger
sense that the SDGs apply to all countries and are not
being dictated by rich countries to poor countries. The
MDGs were focused on developing countries exclusively,
whereas the SDGs are universally applicable.
The SDG education targets are stronger than the MDGs
in various ways. They draw upon the comprehensive and
holistic vision of the EFA movement. They recognize
that different levels of education cannot be addressed in
isolation from one another. While the EFA goals sought
to ensure equal access to good quality basic education,
the SDG targets shift attention to higher levels
(e.g. universal secondary completion, equal access
to tertiary education) and broader content, such as
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CHAPTER 9 | THE CHALLENGES OF MONITORING EDUCATION IN THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS