SDG 4 - Quality Education
Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) places inclusion at the centre of the international education agenda:
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
SDG 4 and Inclusive Education
Inclusive education is not only recognized as a human right under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It is also an explicit part of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015.
SDG 4 applies to all learners. Within the Goal, persons with disabilities are also addressed explicitly.
The following provisions are particularly relevant to disability-inclusive education:
- Target 4.5 - Equal access to education, including for persons with disabilities
- Indicator 4.5.1 - Measurement of disparities, including by disability status
- Target 4.a - Disability-sensitive facilities and inclusive learning environments
- Indicator 4.a.1 - Measurement of adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities
Together, these provisions address both equal access to education and the accessibility and inclusiveness of educational environments.
Target 4.5
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.
Indicator 4.5.1
Parity indices (female/male, rural/urban, bottom/top wealth quintile and others such as disability status, indigenous peoples and conflict-affected, as data become available) for all education indicators on this list that can be disaggregated.
The indicator is significant for inclusive education because it provides for disaggregation by disability status when measuring disparities across education indicators.
Target 4.a
Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.
Indicator 4.a.1
Indicator 4.a.1 measures the proportion of schools offering specified basic services. One of those measures is:
(d) adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities
What Does “Adapted” Mean?
The metadata for Indicator 4.a.1 provides further definitions relevant to students with disabilities.
Adapted Infrastructure
Adapted infrastructure is defined as any built environment related to education facilities that are accessible to all users, including those with different types of disability, to be able to gain access to use and exit from them. Accessibility includes ease of independent approach, entry, evacuation and/or use of a building and its services and facilities (such as water and sanitation), by all of the building’s potential users with an assurance of individual health, safety and welfare during the course of those activities.
Adapted Materials
Adapted materials include learning materials and assistive products that enable students and teachers with disabilities/functioning limitations to access learning and to participate fully in the school environment.
Accessible Learning Materials
Accessible learning materials include textbooks, instructional materials, assessments and other materials that are available and provided in appropriate formats such as audio, braille, sign language and simplified formats that can be used by students and teachers with disabilities/functioning limitations.
SDG 4 and the CRPD
SDG 4 and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities should be read as complementary, but legally different, frameworks.
Article 24 of the CRPD recognizes the right of persons with disabilities to education and requires States Parties to ensure an inclusive education system at all levels.
SDG 4 places inclusive and equitable education within the global 2030 Agenda and establishes targets and indicators through which progress can be assessed.
For Japan, both are directly relevant: Japan ratified the CRPD in 2014 and adopted the 2030 Agenda in 2015.
For the legal framework on inclusive education, see CRPD Article 24 - Right to Education.