Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) has said a lot needs to be done in order to achieve equitable and quality education under Sustainable Developmental Goal (SDG) number 4.
The SDGs are for both developing and developed countries and the plan is that they should be achieved by 2030.
SDG4 says there should be inclusive and equitable education for both girls and boys, free primary and secondary school education and education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive.
Speaking after a parliamentary engagement meeting at Golden Peacock Hotel in Lilongwe, CSEC Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe said the journey to achieving the sustainable development goals remains in the hands of different stakeholders more especially Members of Parliament since they are the ones who know better challenges faced by the education sector from the grassroots in their respective constituencies.
Kondowe added that parliamentarians have a crucial role as one of the most powerful domestic accountability mechanism in the country.
“We are saying that Parliament must propagate based budgeting and financial allocations to improve the current poor education outcomes and civil society organizations should continue to advocate while on another hand private sector should transparently pay taxes whenever they are making profits to achieve the sustainable developmental goals,” he explained
In his remarks, Deputy Chairperson for Parliamentary Committee on Education Vincent Ghambi pointed out the issue of quota system as another hindrance to achieving sustainable development goal number 4 saying government need to look into the system and ensure that education is accessed by all including people with disabilities.
Ghambi added that hidden cost of free primary education should be considered as well saying some pupils drop out of school after failing to pay school funds despite government declaring primary education as free.
Considering that pledging is another issue, the Member of Parliament for Karonga North suggested that implementations have to be done in order to walk for the talk.
He therefore pledged to put government in its position to ensure that it realises its roles and agendas towards achieving SDG4.
