Policy Advocacy

ASPBAE’s Policy Advocacy Objectives related to SDG 4 are defined as follows:

• 12 years of free, publicly funded primary and secondary education of which 9 years are compulsory; at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education.
• ‘Leaving no one behind’ in education: high priority to ensuring equity, inclusion, and non-discrimination in education, expressed in defined, fully-resourced measures to reach excluded and discriminated groups, especially vulnerable women and youth.
• Gender equality: It is imperative to root out the causes of inequality between women and men by addressing unequal gender relations and tackling structural barriers such as discriminatory legislation and macro-economic policies, prejudicial social norms and harmful practices, with education a major arena to combat gender injustice and inequality.
• Quality education at all levels of education, including in non-formal youth and adult education. Serious attention to filling the teaching gap with qualified, trained, motivated teachers/educators is critical to meeting the SDG 4 targets.
• Promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all: Civil society will need to press for defined policies, institutional strategies and strengthened publicly funded systems for lifelong learning.
• Youth and adult literacy, recognising that millions of youth and adults are still denied their right to literacy skills, with Asia being home to the largest number of these. The retreat of governments from prioritising youth and adult literacy needs to be challenged.
• Skills for life and decent work, attentive to the learning needs, especially of marginalized youth and women— skills training should focus not only on work-specific skills but wider transferable skills enabling learners to be critically aware, knowledgeable about their rights, be capable of working with others and in groups, able to analyse situations, and participate meaningfully in decisions that impact their lives.
• Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED): Non-formal youth and adult education are critical in equipping communities with the necessary tools – knowledge, skills, attitudes - to cope with the impacts of climate change; or growing intolerance, escalating violence,bigotry, attacks on democratic space – and the abilities to help define a more peaceful, just, sustainable development path.