Taking a look at the execution of goal 4 in Vietnam
The United Nations’ goal of quality education for all applies to the entire global community. Many countries have already taken some steps to insure this goal can be completed by the year 2030. Vietnam is such a country and has begun the process of planning out how to implement these measures. The authors, Doanh-Ngan-Mac Do, Linh-Khanh Hoang, Coang-Minh Le, and Trung Tran discuss the ways Vietnam is making changes to its society in the article, “A Human Rights-Based Approach in Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam.”
Vietnam is a country with many different ethnic groups, with a majority and many minority groups. The authors describe these ethnic groups’ living conditions as residing “in harsh weather conditions and geographical conditions and have difficult socio-economic conditions, which affects, to a certain extent, the opportunities and the implementation of human rights for them” (2020). This explains that there is a distinction in the quality of life between these groups which leads to differences socially and economically. The UN’s approach with its goals was to aim for substantive equality in order to focus on helping these minorities (Do et. al, 2020). Researchers conducted a survey asking about conditions of the minority groups in Vietnam. The authors state “A total of 300 respondents to the survey questions were asked to rate the extent to which they agreed that ethnic minorities in Vietnam were facing barriers in their access to the educational system. Three major obstacles, including language, gender inequality and child labor, were examined in relation to other obstacles,” (2020). The authors go on to conclude that most participants identified these obstacles as prevalent problems within the communities. This means that these are confirmed barriers to a quality education in the minority groups of Vietnam.
The studies conducted reveal that it is possible to achieve the targets of goal within the country. The authors explain, “The national strategies that the Vietnamese government has set up are believed to far surpass the standards set by the global SDG4 version and to meet all aspects required for the rights of ethnic minorities in Vietnam, while adapting global goals to local needs” (2020). In other words, the government’s approach to quality education by using equality and breaking down the barriers underrepresented groups face, will prove to be successful in achieving the goal of quality education. Vietnam plans on using strategies of eliminating obstacles and substantive equality to create a world where a good education is available to all.
Source
Do, D., Hoang, L., Le, C., Tran, T. (2020). A Human Rights-Based Approach in Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) for Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam. Sustainability, 12 (10).
