Introduction

“Education is the most powerful weapon used to change the world.” Rightly said by Nelson Mandela which makes us realize the power and importance of Education. Education is a tool to achieve our goals and desires. An educated person can become a good citizen and thus contribute more towards society and the environment. The Indian Constitution also provides for one of the rights of citizens AS the right to free education up to the age of 14 years. It goes without saying that the focus on basic education has always been a concern paramount. One can also look at the number of technological, vocational and basic education institutes that keep sprouting up. The very fact that even the people who we usually call the Bottom of the Pyramid population are keen to get their kids educated spells volume on the importance of education.

The United Nations has defined a set of 17 Sustainable development goals (SDGs). These goals aim towards a sustainable and progressive planet by addressing poverty, hunger, quality education, inequality, improving health, and much more. While there are multiple ways to achieve them, one thing that lies at the root is the need for skilled resources and hence some form of education. It will not be too much of a stretch to say that these goals can be achieved only when the citizens are educated and feel a sense of responsibility towards society. Having said that, let us look at how an educated citizen or an educated community influences the Sustainable Development Goals.

Education influences the 17 Sustainable development goals (SDGs)

Goal 1: No poverty

Education is one of the most powerful ways of eradicating poverty. According to UNESCO, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty – a 12% drop in global poverty – if all students in low-income countries left school with at least basic reading skills. Education can help people learn new skills and gain knowledge, which will help them secure a job or make way for their earnings. Quality and equitable Education can thus help fight against poverty.

Goal 2: No Hunger

This aims at achieving food security and improved nutrition. A mother’s Education directly influences the child’s diet. It becomes very important that the mother is educated to improve her child’s nutrition and save them from malnutrition and stunted growth. The statistics state that 1.7 million children could be prevented from stunted growth if the mothers receive primary Education. Mothers and parents should be trained and educated about diseases and malnutrition so that they can avoid it. Various awareness programs should be set up in rural areas to make the mothers aware of the problems that they might encounter during the birth of the child.

Goal 3: Good Health

Quality education can help in promoting good health, and the risk to life could be reduced significantly too. If the mothers are educated at the primary level, they can help their child by saving them from diseases and taking necessary preventive or curative measures for the same. UNESCO reports that each extra year of a mother’s schooling reduces infant mortality by as much as 10%. Educated people will obviously be, thanks to the increased exposure, more aware of healthy behaviours. 

Goal 4: Quality Education

Education helps children acquire the right set of skills and values to be progressive and responsible as a citizen. Investing in the education sector is quite important as it can help in providing better and advanced facilities to the children for becoming aware of the happening and opportunities in the world. It goes without saying that the progress for all other areas depends on the growth in the education sector. It thus becomes inevitable to provide inclusive and equal educational opportunities to all the children irrespective of gender, caste, and creed. While there will always be some reservations at the individual level, yet it is the duty of the organisations and governments to ensure that equitable education is provided for.

Goal 5: Gender equality

Education helps in mitigating the gap between men and women. Today women are at par with men in all the fields. Education has helped improve the lives of women, and they are now becoming capable of generating employment for themselves. According to the world bank studies, One additional school year can increase a woman’s earnings by up to 20%. Imagine this in a scenario where women find it hard to get a day’s work or when the crops fail and farmers see only suicide as an option. Even a little bit of monetary support coming from an honest work will prove to be of great support. 

Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

The scientific community can better understand the importance of Clean Water and Sanitation. Schools can help children in learning the importance of good and clean habits. They can make them aware of the importance of health and hygiene in their lives. The children, in turn, can educate their families and neighbours. Providing water closer to homes and making enough toilets to ensure safe Sanitation is one of the preliminary steps to take towards it and it isn’t too much to say that it takes only an educated person who has seen the better side of the world to know that “going out” in the open isn’t safe. The UNESCO report states that girls spend as many as 15 hours per week fetching water for their families, leaving no time for school. In Ethiopia, 6.8 million people gained access to improved Sanitation from 1990 to 2006. This is because of the literate community.

Goal 7: Clean energy

Education can help society to look for technological and advanced means to save and clean energy. Clean and affordable energy will better support the community to prosper and maintain energy infrastructures that can reduce energy use and strive towards achieving sustainable energy for the future.

Goal 8: Good jobs and economic growth

Studies have shown that each additional year of schooling raises average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 0.37%. Economic growth is directly related to Education. It is thus very important to educate the youth of today so that they can contribute to the nation’s economy. Good Education and a great set of skills will help land you to the job of your dreams. Thus, Education becomes an inevitable factor in achieving this goal too.

Goal 9: innovation and infrastructure

With the masses getting educated, having their technical skills combined with their creative thinking can contribute to infrastructure to a great extent. The construction of roads, bridges, buildings, airports, health care, communication, and such systems will help the nation flourish. Well planned infrastructure will help children getting better educational opportunities in the future, especially for the children in rural areas who do not have access to Education because of poor infrastructure.

Goal 10: Inequalities

With a larger society being educated, one can remove and fight against inequality, whether in terms of gender, education, or social. As people get more and more educated, the gap between them reduces, which helps improve the country’s income inequality. One study by EnY showed that a 0.1% improvement in a country’s education equality could, over forty years, raise its per capita income by 23%.

Goal 11: sustainable cities and communities

This goal can be achieved with good Urban planning, good water and sanitation management, efficient use of energy, among other multiple relevant factors. All this requires quality and higher Education. A lot of planning and strategies are involved in making a city and community which can meet the sustainable development goals smartly. This is possible only with thorough and higher Education in the field, the means for which need to be provided to all so that the best may excel.

Goal 12: Responsible consumption

Aiming towards more sustainable consumption requires using energy, water, and other resources efficiently while following the 3Rs of waste management. All this requires knowledge and information about the topic which can be gained through adequate education and education alone. Citizens can become more responsible when they are educated and when they reach a higher step in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, do they feel the will to contribute to sustainable development. With adequate education, such a transition can be sped up significantly.

Goal 13, 14 and 15- climate change, life on land and life below water

In 29 countries, 25% of people with less than a secondary education expressed concern for the environment compared to 37% of people with secondary education and 46% of people with tertiary education, research shows. It has been observed that with higher education, the people and community begin to show their concern about the planet too. Learning environment as a part of the Education has helped people in acknowledging the issues faced and figuring out the ways and measures that can be or need to be taken to save the environment. Organizing awareness programmes to fight climate change, protect the aquatic and terrestrial life. All these require an understanding and a higher level of Education.

Goal 16: Peace and Justice

Education plays a very important role in promoting peace and justice in society. The ones who are more literate exercise their democratic rights, discuss social and political issues and fight against injustice and equality, which in turn helps maintain peace, law, and order in the country. Studies have shown that people with secondary educations are more likely than those with only primary Education to show tolerance for people who speak another language.

Goal 17: Partnership for the goals

Well, this isn’t really something that education will impact for this goal is more of a reflection on the human nature than anything and we all know, education can make you better, it cannot change who you are!

Conclusion

All said and done, we feel that we made a good case here! We hope that all of us will sooner or later realise it too and start taking a step towards achieving this.

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