Building on the Millennium Development Goals, the UN Sustainable Development Goals are the cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, billed by the UN as “An Agenda of unprecedented scope and significance.” The seventeen ambitious goals, which are intended to be reached by 2030, are conceived as integrated, indivisible, and as balancing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. They are organized around five core pillars:
• People: ending poverty and hunger and ensuring that all human beings can lead fulfilling lives in a healthy and dignified environment.
• Planet: protecting the environment while ensuring sustainable use and management of natural resources.
• Prosperity: ensuring environmentally sustainable economic growth, mutual prosperity, and decent work for all.
• Peace: building societies that are peaceful, just and inclusive, and in which human rights and gender equality are respected.
• Partnership: strengthening global solidarity to address inequalities within and between countries, by focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable.
This Research Topic addresses the tenth Sustainable Development Goal, which is to “reduce inequality within and among countries”. Progress toward this goal is measured by a number of individual targets and indicators.
In its most recent SDG progress report, the UN notes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting how it has intensified existing inequalities within and among territories and countries, and how it is likely to delay all progresses made by the poorest countries on this SDG by at least 10 years. Before the pandemic, reasonable gains had been made in the reduction of inequality in several areas. However, inequality endures, whether in relation to wealth, income, opportunity, or other dimensions.
Evidence from developing countries shows that children living in the poorest 20% of the world are still three times more likely to die before turning five than children living in the richest part. In addition, of the one billion population of individuals with disabilities, 80% live in developing countries and are still five times more likely than average to incur tragic health damages; women in rural areas are still three times more likely to die when giving birth than women living in developed areas; one in ten children is a child with a disability, while only 28% of individuals with serious disabilities have access to benefits globally (with only 1per cent in low-income countries). Furthermore, in 2020, 4,186 disappearances and deaths worldwide were registered on migratory routes, and by mid-2020 the number of people who fled their countries and became refugees had grown to 24 million.
Hence, this report notes and urges the need for swift action to get back on track toward reducing inequalities worldwide.
This Research Topic will address the tenth Sustainable Development Goal from an education-specific perspective. Themes welcomed may include, but are not limited to:
• The importance of increasing and guaranteeing equal access to education
• The role of education in ensuring that laws and social programmes protect vulnerable and disadvantaged people
• Teacher’s role in educating children on how to interact and communicate positively with others
• Education to promote the social, political, and economic inclusion of all
• Addressing education as a powerful tool for advancing equity and impacting one’s income
• The impact of digital learning advancements in helping one’s future and economic growth
Given the setbacks to reducing inequalities across the world from the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s edition of the Research Topic will focus particularly on the challenges and complexities of ensuring no one is left behind in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
Building on the Millennium Development Goals, the UN Sustainable Development Goals are the cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, billed by the UN as “An Agenda of unprecedented scope and significance.” The seventeen ambitious goals, which are intended to be reached by 2030, are conceived as integrated, indivisible, and as balancing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. They are organized around five core pillars:
• People: ending poverty and hunger and ensuring that all human beings can lead fulfilling lives in a healthy and dignified environment.
• Planet: protecting the environment while ensuring sustainable use and management of natural resources.
• Prosperity: ensuring environmentally sustainable economic growth, mutual prosperity, and decent work for all.
• Peace: building societies that are peaceful, just and inclusive, and in which human rights and gender equality are respected.
• Partnership: strengthening global solidarity to address inequalities within and between countries, by focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable.
This Research Topic addresses the tenth Sustainable Development Goal, which is to “reduce inequality within and among countries”. Progress toward this goal is measured by a number of individual targets and indicators.
In its most recent SDG progress report, the UN notes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting how it has intensified existing inequalities within and among territories and countries, and how it is likely to delay all progresses made by the poorest countries on this SDG by at least 10 years. Before the pandemic, reasonable gains had been made in the reduction of inequality in several areas. However, inequality endures, whether in relation to wealth, income, opportunity, or other dimensions.
Evidence from developing countries shows that children living in the poorest 20% of the world are still three times more likely to die before turning five than children living in the richest part. In addition, of the one billion population of individuals with disabilities, 80% live in developing countries and are still five times more likely than average to incur tragic health damages; women in rural areas are still three times more likely to die when giving birth than women living in developed areas; one in ten children is a child with a disability, while only 28% of individuals with serious disabilities have access to benefits globally (with only 1per cent in low-income countries). Furthermore, in 2020, 4,186 disappearances and deaths worldwide were registered on migratory routes, and by mid-2020 the number of people who fled their countries and became refugees had grown to 24 million.
Hence, this report notes and urges the need for swift action to get back on track toward reducing inequalities worldwide.
This Research Topic will address the tenth Sustainable Development Goal from an education-specific perspective. Themes welcomed may include, but are not limited to:
• The importance of increasing and guaranteeing equal access to education
• The role of education in ensuring that laws and social programmes protect vulnerable and disadvantaged people
• Teacher’s role in educating children on how to interact and communicate positively with others
• Education to promote the social, political, and economic inclusion of all
• Addressing education as a powerful tool for advancing equity and impacting one’s income
• The impact of digital learning advancements in helping one’s future and economic growth
Given the setbacks to reducing inequalities across the world from the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s edition of the Research Topic will focus particularly on the challenges and complexities of ensuring no one is left behind in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
