The UIS is launching its annual 2021 Survey of Formal Education for the reference year ending in 2020 to ensure the timely collection of data for SDG 4. The questionnaires and related materials are available on the UIS website at: http://uis.unesco.org/uis-questionnaires.

As the custodian agency for SDG 4 data, the UIS collects education data and develops indictors to enable Member States to meet national commitments to the Agenda 2030 Framework.

With COVID-19 school closures, teachers are faced with a myriad of challenges – the transition to remote teaching and the safe return to school to name a few. For World Teacher’s Day, the UIS, the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 and the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEMR) teams have jointly released this factsheet to highlight the training gaps and needs of teachers in times of crisis:

The need to collect essential data

To help countries cope with COVID-19 school closure learning losses and regain ground in their education targets, the UIS has mindfully revised the core indicators themselves. In an effort to mitigate learning losses, the grouping and development of the UIS SDG Core Indicators now more closely reflect the layers and priorities that inform the SDG 4 Indicators as endorsed by Member States – i.e. global, thematic, regional and national (in descending order):

As part of the coordinated global education response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank jointly launched the Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures. The survey sought to collect information from Member States on the country-wide scope of national education responses to the mass school closures from pre-primary to upper secondary levels. Responses to the survey will help better guide local/national policy responses to mitigate the impact of school closures and help prepare for the reopening of schools.

As part of the coordinated global education response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank are now launching the 2^nd Iteration of the Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures. This is the second in a series of surveys administered to ensure that the latest (updated) information on the evolution of country responses to COVID-19 are captured. The first survey was carried out in May 2020 and covered 118 countries.

As part of the SDG Agenda 2030, countries have pledged to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”.

The UOE questionnaires collect data on formal education, including personnel, enrolment, graduates, source of funds, demographic data and class size.

Results of the survey will be released in 2021 via the UIS database. A timely response to the survey is essential to produce high-quality, comparable data, which are used to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and included in major international reports.

Learn more:

In December 2019, the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) upgraded indicator 11.4.1 to Tier 2 status, confirming that the indicator is conceptually sound and has an internationally established methodology as standards are in place to clearly guide its measurement. Following the upgrade, the UIS is now launching the first-ever global survey to capture how governments and private contributors invest in preserving the rich history that has helped shape us as individuals as well as our communities.