The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers 17 goals, the fourth of which is “quality education”, namely: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.  (Click here for details)

Under this major goal, there are 13 targets, the fifth of which is “By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations”.

● Current Situation

About the World

Education Loss for Children in Vulnerable Situations Caused by Covid-19

Photo source:news.cyol.com

Fair chance for everyone is the goal of education development. The Covid-19 outbreak has spread all over the world. Nearly 1.5 billion students from 200 countries suffered from close of schools. In order to reduce the education loss, governments all over the world have carried out online teaching, but there have been many problems. According to the report the Covid-19: Global Teaching Crisis issued by the UNESCO, there are 826 million students without computers in their homes, and 709 million students without access to the internet, many of whom are the poorest girls in the vulnerable situations.

Text source: UNICEF

About China

Education For Stay Behind Children

Photo source:sohu.com

Equal access to education is the eternal topic of educational development. There are obvious regional differences in the distribution of educational resources in China, mainly in the western region, rural and poor areas. According to the statistical bulletin on the national education development in 2013, there are about 21.3 million rural left behind children who are at the age of receiving compulsory education. The education of left behind children is important for equal access to education in China. The left behind children in rural areas are in vulnerable situations. To protect their rights to education is the base of bringing equality education.  

Text source: Journal of Southwest Petroleum University Social Science Edition

●  Cases

About the World

Polarization Between Rich And Poor Schools in the United States

Photo source:sohu.com

One of the main obstacles affecting the equality of education is that most of the children from low-income families are in the same schools, which often weakens their competitiveness and aggravates the situation of "poor schools are poorer". Therefore, many school districts in the United States have carried out a "planned" student distribution system, i.e., subject to the education level, ethnic backgrounds, living situations of each student's parents. Children from different family backgrounds are "mixed distribution", so as to avoid the "unfair starting point" of education caused by the differentiation between rich and poor schools.

In order to eliminate the gap between the "rich schools" and the "poor schools", the governments of states in the United States have also carried out the practice of investing the increment of education funds mainly to the schools in more difficult situations. For example, Maryland has implemented a six-year plan to increase the annual school funding to $1.3 billion (35% increase on the existing basis). The new funds are mainly given priority to those school districts where poor students are the majority.

Text source: sic.gov.cn

About China

Huawei Built Digital Mobile Classroom

Photo source:huawei.com

Huawei cooperated with Belgium's non-profit organization Close the Gap, UNESCO (East Africa), Global Systems Mobile Association, the Computers for Schools Kenya and Safaricom in Kanya to build mobile digital classroom called DigiTruck to provide digital empowerment for remote and rural areas.

DigiTruck is the latest initiative of Huawei Tech4all digital program in promoting eqality and quality education, focusing on providing digital skills training for rural teachers, unemployed youth and women in Kenya. DigiTruck is a mobile digital classroom rebuilt from a truck container. The 12 meter long truck equipped with notebook computers, large LED screens, VR glasses, smart phones, routers and other IT devices. Students can use smart phones and laptops inside the truck to study internet skills. The truck is powered by solar energy, therefore it can be used even in the remote areas where power supply is scarce.

Text source: huawei.com

●  Background

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Initiated by the United Nations

On January 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 169 targets, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force. Countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.