SDG 4 – Quality Education

Education as a lever for development

“There is only one thing in the long run more expensive than education: no education.” It has been clear that John F. Kennedy was right about this not only since the COVID-19 pandemic, during which reading ability in lower secondary education fell by an average of 10% worldwide and math performance by as much as 15%. Even before that, education was already in a poor state and progress towards achieving SDG 4 was far too slow. According to UN estimates, 84 million children and young people will not be attending school in 2030 and around 300 million pupils will not have basic literacy and numeracy skills unless additional measures are taken. Education is seen as a lever for sustainable development; accelerating progress in education could act as a catalyst for achieving all SDGs.

Only those who can read and write, use computers, acquire new knowledge and deal with new technologies will find their way in the world of the 21st century. This applies to industrialised countries, where digitalisation affects almost all areas of life. But it also applies to developing countries. There is significant potential there in the use of new technologies, for example in the renewable energy sector or in agriculture. The global energy transition alone requires millions of qualified workers. Education also helps people to find work, set up companies and run them successfully. Those with an education can earn an income and are less likely to fall into poverty. However, the benefits of education go far beyond the economic aspect: education allows people to take better care of their own health, strengthens women's rights and enables social participation, making it a cornerstone of functioning democracies.

In many countries, however, there is a lack of infrastructure and other prerequisites that make high-quality education possible in the first place: school buildings are in poor condition or missing altogether, (vocational) schools are inadequately equipped and teachers have not undergone qualified training. In many cases, the teaching content is outdated or not geared towards the actual needs of the economy. KfW is committed to remedying these shortcomings.

Primary education is the foundation for lifelong learning and thus the prerequisite for higher-level qualifications. In an international context, it consists of preschool education, a six- to eight-year primary school and a lower secondary school. By 2030 the aim is to ensure that girls and boys receive free and high-quality primary and secondary education on an equal footing, leading to effective learning outcomes. The international community has achieved some success here in recent years: In 2015, 85% of pupils completed primary school, rising to 88% in 2023. While the completion rate for lower secondary education was 74% of children in 2015, it was 78% in 2023. The trend is therefore positive, but not sufficient and also varies from region to region. Only two out of three children in sub-Saharan Africa still complete primary school in the allotted time. Furthermore, progress overall is too slow to achieve SDG 4.

Primary and secondary education continue to be an important component of KfW's education portfolio. Its primary goal is to further improve access to and the content of educational programmes – especially in the context of displacement and fragility, for example in Sudan or Türkiye. KfW also supports the construction and equipping of primary schools, for example in Guinea, Malawi or Honduras, or the financing of school scholarships for secondary school pupils in Kenya.

There have never been as many young people as there are today. And never before have they suffered so much from lacking employment. In 2023, over a fifth of all young people worldwide were neither in employment, education or training; women more than twice as often as men. In Africa alone, over 20 million young adults search for work every year. According to estimates, by 2030 this figure could even grow to 30 million. At the same time, many countries on the continent need well-trained experts to maintain or expand their economic growth or to complete the transformation towards a green, sustainable economy. The energy transition in particular requires skilled labour. By 2030, there will be an estimated shortage of 7 million green energy workers worldwide. The installation of photovoltaics and wind energy, the production of batteries and storage systems as well as electric vehicles will ensure an increasing demand for labour. However, if the energy transition is not only to succeed but also to be just, it will not only require well-trained young people – the further education and training of those workers who will lose their jobs in the course of the transformation and want to find new work, ideally in the green energy sector, must also be taken into account.

In the view of German development cooperation, this is best achieved through vocational training, which fulfils a number of prerequisites: For example, a certain standard in vocational training can be guaranteed through defined quality criteria. The implementing institutions should closely cooperate with the business sector to ensure that training fulfils the needs of the market and vocational training should be part of a comprehensive approach. This means vocational training cannot stand alone and should fit into the education and economic system. If these criteria are met, practically-oriented vocational training can create a useful bridge between the demands of the economy and the needs of young people.

Market-oriented vocational training is an important and increasing part of KfW's portfolio in the education sector, not least due to the background of positive experience with the dual system in Germany. This includes programmes for vocational training in Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt, as well as in Laos, the Western Balkans, Senegal and Ukraine. KfW also promotes vocational training relevant to the green energy sector in seven countries, including Vietnam and South Africa.

Many developing countries and emerging economies lack institutes of higher education and research facilities. The percentage of college-age students enrolled in tertiary education is correspondingly low. The global percentage is close to 40% but the enrolment rate in countries like Chad or Ethiopia is only 3%. But even tertiary education is essential for the social and economic future of a country as experts and managers set trends and drive innovation. Thus, promoting higher education is a sub-goal of SDG 4, while also acting as a lever for the other sub-goals. For example, teacher training at universities is essential to ensuring good and high-quality primary education and vocational training. But healthcare, private companies, technology and sales also depend on well-trained university graduates.

Africa, in particular, demonstrates deficits in higher education and has the lowest proportion of scientists anywhere in the world. But many young people on other continents also do not have access to higher education institutions. For example, in Latin America the percentage of private universities that are unaffordable for many young people from poorer households is comparatively high.

KfW promotes higher education and research in different ways. On the one hand, it provides scholarships and student loan programmes for poor but gifted students, for example in eastern Africa or Guatemala. On the other hand, it also supports individual institutions of higher education in fields like healthcare or engineering, for example in Namibia or Algeria, to increase the number of qualified experts.

The promotion of quality education is a key area of German development cooperation. In 2024, KfW Development Bank provided new financing totalling around EUR 584 million, which is expected to contribute to achieving SDG 4.

The financing agreements signed in 2024 are expected to provide over 519,000 primary and secondary school pupils with a better education over the next few years. It is also expected that over 52,000 people will complete vocational training and more than 4,600 people will be better qualified for their work in vocational training.

Education inspires

In Kenya, many children and young people, especially girls, are often deprived of higher education. The scholarship programme "Wings-to-fly" enables disadvantaged young people to complete secondary school as a foundation stone for a more demanding secondary vocational education and thus for a secure and adequately paid job. In this interview, Dr James Mwangi, initiator of the programme, talks about how "Wings-to-fly" came into being and how it gives many young people wings today.

Techniker bei der Wartung einer Deponiegasabsaugungsanlage auf einer Mülldeponie

Modern training in Tunisia

The apprentices learn on state-of-the-art machines in the training centre that Bosch Rexroth and the Tunisian Vocational Training Agency have set up in Sfax. Co-financed by KfW as part of the "Skills Initiative For Africa" (SIFA), the skilled workers of tomorrow are thus ideally prepared for everyday working life.

Play Video (YouTube, 2:15 min.)