Narayankul Dream Model School & College

SDGs in BANGLADESH (QUALITY EDUCATION)

Before going in-depth it’s essential to know the base of our topic SDGs. What is Sustainable Development? The answer is very simple: sustainable development is the kind of development that meets the needs of the present and it sustains so the needs of future generations are not compromised. The idea is to create such a structure to eradicate poverty, help in economic growth, and create lifelong opportunities for all while keeping the environment safe. It may sound like a lot on one plate but the world leaders with the help of the UN are determined to make it happen by 2030.

1. The Concept

Before going in-depth it’s essential to know the base of our topic SDGs. What is Sustainable Development? The answer is very simple: sustainable development is the kind of development that meets the needs of the present and it sustains so the needs of future generations are not compromised. The idea is to create such a structure to eradicate poverty, help in economic growth, and create lifelong opportunities for all while keeping the environment safe. It may sound like a lot on one plate but the world leaders with the help of the UN are determined to make it happen by 2030.

2. The Background

In replacement of EFA 2015, the World Education Forum 2015 in Incheon, Korea, set the ambitious Education 2030 agenda to ensure “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” in May 2015. Therefore in September 2015, with the pledge to “transform our world,” the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 was adopted by the world leaders. Bangladesh as an active participant in the global process prepared its own post-2015 Development Agenda and contributed to the UN. The General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission led this agenda based on a consultative process initiated in 2013 and it had 11 goals along with 58 targets with 241 measurable indicators. Even though these 11 goals were developed in the context of Bangladesh, 9 out of 11 goals remarkably matched the proposals made by the Open Working Group (OWG) of the United Nations. Before SDGs, there were MDGs(Millennium Development Goals) with 8 goals. The 8 MDGs were:

ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER
ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION
PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN
REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY
IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH
COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA, AND OTHER DISEASES
ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT

Bangladesh made praiseworthy progress in most of the MDGs targets; especially in the education and health fields. Here are the MDGs Goal-2’s progress results till 2013 by the USAID:

Reached 1.3 million children in 5,112 schools in all seven divisions of Bangladesh.
Expanded access to schooling to 27,301 out-of-school children.
Improved reading skills of 234,000 students; mainly third graders.
16,667 teachers were trained on how to teach early-grade reading.
2,061,881 books and supplementary reading materials to primary school classrooms were distributed.

Now the government of Bangladesh is able to distribute free books up to class 10 every year to millions of students. This is a prime example of Sustainable Development.

3. Introduction

Sustainable Development Goals also known as Global Goals were adopted by world leaders in September 2015 after the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On 1 January 2016, the 17 SDGs of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development started its official journey with a set of targets. Out of 17 goals SDG4 is for ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning for all. The world leaders could see it clearly that if they want to achieve the other 16 SDGs such as health, gender equality, economic growth, employment, sustainable consumption, and production; education is the main key. The UN and its partners in Bangladesh have been supporting the government as one of the development partners in various projects to enhance the development impact.SDG4consist of 10 targets as shown in Table-1 below:

Table 1: Goals & Targets

Goal 4	Targets
Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.	4.1	By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and goal-4 effective learning outcomes.
	4.2	By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development care and preprimary education so that they are ready for primary education.
	4.3	By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education, including university.
	4.4	By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship.
	4.5	By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship.
	4.6	By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial promotion of adults, both men, and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.
	4.7	By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial promotion of adults, both men, and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.
	4. A	Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability, and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive, and effective learning environments for all.
	4. B	By 2030, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing states, and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programs, in developed countries and developing countries.
	4. C	By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teachers training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states.

Source: Education - United Nations Sustainable Development

4. Bangladesh Government Policies on SDGs Implementation

Sustainable Development Goals are set of goals with targets adopted by world leaders, these goals are not something that can be forced upon a country. All stakeholders: governments, civil society, the private sector, and NGOs are expected to contribute to the implementation processes of this new agenda. Countries that are part of this agenda are expected to come up with proper strategies and find multi-stakeholders or foreign investors who will finance the agenda till they sustain. Our prime minister Sheik Hasina has established an Inter-Ministerial committee consisting of secretaries from 20 ministries to monitor SDGs implementation.

1. 1. (a) Targets

The government of Bangladesh has come up with Seventh Five Year Plan (7FYP), aligning 14 goals (82%) fully and 3 goals (SDG14, SDG16, SDG17) partially out of 17 goals. And Goal 4 is in top priority. SDGs, as integrated into 7FYP by Bangladesh Government, is below:

Achieving 100 net enrollment rates for primary and secondary education.
Ensure quality education in primary, secondary, and tertiary education.
Percentage of cohort reaching grade 5 to be increased to 100% from the current 80%.

Source:Development Planning 7FYP & SDG.pdf (portal.gov.bd)

1. 1. (b) Action Plan

The government has made strong action plans to get ultimate success. GED aligning with United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC)in Bangladesh has already taken steps to ensure the involvement of NGOs, CSOs, Development Partners, and Media in SDGs implementation. Not only that the government has well-structured plans for monitoring the implementation. GED works with data-generating divisions like SID and BBS for data gap analysis purposes.

1. 1. (c) Progress so far on SDGs

On SDG4 the gender parity index (GPI); exceeded 1 at primary and secondary levels of education and has remained above 1 for more than a decade.

5. Narayankul Dream Model School & College on SDG4

Narayankul Dream Model School & College is one of the best English version schools in Gazipur with the best facility among all schools and colleges around Gazipur. This institute is known for creating an environment to give children the dream education. This institute solely follows the rules to match the targets of SDG4. Let’s talk about the steps taken to align with all the targets:

This institute is under a co-education system meaning ensuring equal access for all women in education.
Academics start from pre-elementary to college meeting the target 4.2. Where kids are taught in a gentle and cheerful environment developing them from childhood.
Runs scholarship programs making education affordable for all. It also makes ways for students and teachers to go outside the country to get special training or the degree of their choice. This meets the target 4.3 -4.5 and 4.8.
This institute knows the value of technology very well. Has a modern ICT lab, and science lab for students to learn and practice their skills in technological fields.
Has the only Future Lab in Gazipur. These students do exchange programs with Japanese students. This helps bring diversity in student’s life. They get to learn and exchange knowledge as well as culture. Matching to 4.7^th target.
Teachers are given annual training. Even sends teachers to foreign to get the best and most qualified teachers. This also creates opportunities for the teachers to expand their skills.
Has a dream counseling system creating a nonviolent, safe learning environment to make sure students always get all the help they need.

These are things Narayankul Dream Model School & College is in their best in SDGs goal implementation. Not only in Goal 4. With proper sanitation, nutritional meals in school, extra curriculum activity programs, and safe water facilities they are also contributing to the other SDGs too. This school has already passed 10 years completing all the goals of SDG4 with great success in 2023. This indicates that this institute has already made some developments sustainable in the field of education. In near future will be the role model of dream education in Bangladesh.

6. The conclusion

SDGs are undoubtedly the best plan to make a country developed while keeping the recourses for future generations. We have to use what we have to make our world a better place without compromising the needs of our future generation. In a developing country like Bangladesh where the population is dense; converting every man into a resource is very important. The only effective way to do that is to follow the SDG4 goals and targets. Educating people can bring a huge difference in a short amount of time with long-lasting after-effects. SDG4 alone can ease the way to achieving the other 16 SDGs. Getting proper education will contribute to eliminating gender inequality with knowledge of justice, creating awareness about health, building skills to use natural resources properly, eradicating poverty and hunger, awareness about the environment, etc.

Narayankul Dream Model School & College’s outstanding effort in SDGs implementation will help Bangladesh in some way to get the sustainable development we want for us and our future generations.