might seem too ideal. some scholars also pointed out that although higher educational institutions are striving for sustainable development, they are still on their early stage. target 4.a: build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools the full title of this target is: "build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all." students using modern technologies during a field trip this target has one indicator: indicator 4.a.1 is the "proportion of schools with access to (a) electricity; (b) the internet for pedagogical purposes; (c) computers for pedagogical purposes; (d) adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities; (e) basic drinking water; (f) single-sex basic sanitation facilities; and (g) basic hand-washing facilities (as per the wash indicator definitions)" gross disbursements of total oda for scholarships target 4.b: expand higher education scholarships for developing countries the full title of this target is: "by 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing states and african countries, for enrollment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programs, in developed countries and other developing countries." this target has one indicator: indicator 4.b.1 is "volume of official development assistance (oda) flows for scholarships" : 8 oda for scholarships was $1.6 billion in 2018. target 4.c: increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries the full title of this target is: "by 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states." this target has one indicator: indicator 4.c.1 is "proportion of teachers in) pre-primary; (b) primary; (c) lower secondary; and (d) upper secondary education who have received at least the minimum organized teacher training (e.g. pedagogical training) pre-service or in-service required for teaching at the relevant level in a given country" sub-saharan africa is behind with the lowest percentages of trained teachers in pre-primary (48 percent), primary (64 percent), and secondary (50 percent) education in 2017. custodian agencies the custodian agency for most of the indicators of the targets is unesco-uis. in addition, unesco is the custodian agency for some of the indicators. the international telecommunication union is the custodian agency for indicator 4.4.1. oecd is the custodian agency for indicator 4.b.1. unesco-ed/psd/esd is the custodian agency for indicator 4.7.1. challenges main article: sustainable development goals § challenges impact of covid-19 pandemic it is estimated that at least a third of the world's children do not have the technology they need to participate in remote learning during the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting widespread school closures. the pandemic has also resulted to an increase in educational inequalities with a completion rate of 79% for the well off and 34% for the poor households. just as all sdgs, achieving sdg 4—for inclusive and equitable access to education—is likely to be missed due to the covid-19 pandemic. there is a projection that more than 200 million children will still be out of education by 2030. covid-19 highlighted the significance of health literacy and the system's failure to provide an equal opportunity of education for everyone. health literacy can be described as the ability of an individual to make decisions based on healthcare provider’s advice. actions are called to include health literacy in basic educational curriculum systems to foster educated individuals to slow down the spread of diseases such as covid-19. closed daegu daemyeong elementary school in south korea during covid-19 outbreak after the pandemic hit, school closure (including universities) starting in april 2020 affected up to 91 percent of enrolled learners. most of the world's children were deprived of formal education during the covid-19 outbreak—a legacy that could threaten the sdgs' underlying ambition to leave no one behind (lnob). many educational institutions are attempting to maintain programs through online education. in oecd countries, although the impact of covid-19 was huge, there are also possibilities to generate new types of education system. however, equity remains a major constraint on access to distance learning, as many students in developing countries do not either have access to the internet or a safe and supportive learning environment appropriate for e-learning. to foster international collaboration and ensure that education never stops, unesco in march 2020 launched the covid-19 global education coalition, a multi-sector partnership between the un family, civil society organizations, media, and it partners to design and deploy innovative solutions. links with other sdgs achieving sdg 4 will help to achieve many other sdgs: eradicate poverty (sdg 1), achieve gender equality (sdg 5), ensure good health and wellbeing (sdg 3), reduce inequalities among countries (sdg 10), promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent work for all (sdg 8), build resilient infrastructure and foster innovation (sdg 9), ensure access to information and awareness for sustainable consumption and style of production in harmony with nature (sdg 12), provide education and awareness toward taking urgent action to combat climate change (sdg 13), and promote peaceful and inclusive societies (sdg 16). monitoring and progress an annual report is prepared by the secretary-general of the united nations evaluating the progress towards the sustainable development goals. established in 2002, the global education monitoring report is an editorially independent report, hosted and published by unesco. it monitors the implementation of national and international strategies to help hold all relevant partners to account for their commitments, as part of the overall sdg follow-up and review process. progress is difficult to track as 75 percent of countries have no or insufficient data to track all the sdg 4 targets. this makes it hard to analyze and identify the children at greatest risk of being left behind. a 2019 study used computer modeling to estimate educational attainment for men and women from 2000 to 2017, mapping the results for each country to help identify areas lagging behind. massive open online courses (moocs) are free open education offered through online platforms. the initial philosophy of moocs was to open up quality higher education to a wider audience. as such, moocs are an important tool to achieve sdg 4. at the same time, moocs also contribute to goal 5, in that they are gender-neutral and can give women and girls improved access to education. organizations organizations that are involved in ensuring quality education is achieved include: plan international unesco unicef global partnership for education the united nations girls' education initiative childhood education international un educational, scientific, and cultural organization-institute for statistics (unesco-uis). united nations institute for training and research (unitar) international telecommunication union (itu)