Beyond School Access: North and Central Asia Push for Better Learning and Fairer Futures

The session focused on accelerating Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), the global commitment to inclusive, equitable quality education and lifelong learning.

Getting children into classrooms is only part of the education challenge facing North and Central Asia. What they learn, whether they can afford to continue studying and how well their education prepares them for work and everyday life brought government representatives, international organizations, civil society and young people together in Almaty and online on 16 September 2026.

The session focused on accelerating Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), the global commitment to inclusive, equitable quality education and lifelong learning. Representatives from the Caucasus, Central Asian countries and the Russian Federation examined gaps that remain despite improvements in school access and infrastructure, including weak learning outcomes, limited affordable vocational training and fewer opportunities for rural communities.

Making Learning Count Beyond the Classroom Door

UNESCO's regional offices in Almaty and Bangkok co-organized the session with the ESCAP Subregional Office for North and Central Asia. It formed part of the 10th North and Central Asia Multi-Stakeholder Forum on SDG implementation, held on 16–17 September, which focused on fair transitions towards sustainable development, poverty eradication and delivery of the 2030 Agenda.

The Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2026 provided the backdrop of uneven regional progress. For education, participants examined teacher support, digital technologies and responsible AI use, together with ways to address gender inequalities and unequal access to technology.

Nurbek Teleshaliyev, Education Specialist at UNESCO Almaty, stressed that enrolment figures cannot tell the whole story of educational success. Schools also need to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, values and competencies required to navigate an increasingly complex world.

UNESCO Almaty's regional overview focused on learning outcomes, upper-secondary completion and equity. Wasinee Noppakunthong, Associate SDG 4 Coordinator for Asia-Pacific at UNESCO Bangkok, explained global and regional coordination mechanisms and the SDG 4 High-Level Steering Committee's priorities for 2026–2027.

She connected current efforts with consultations on education beyond 2030, highlighting resilient education systems, the teaching profession, foundational learning, lifelong learning and digital transformation that includes everyone.

Teachers, Funding and Connectivity Shape Everyday Opportunities

Experiences from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan showed how countries are working to improve teaching, widen inclusive learning opportunities and connect education with labour-market needs.

Uzbekistan's SDG 4 National Coordinator, Maftuna Karimova, identified stronger education data systems, practical support for teachers and sustained coordination as foundations for reform. Armenia emphasized the lasting value of education funding and the need to assess what investment delivers.

Veronika Khorasanyan, Head of the Division for Strategic Planning at Armenia's Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, described education spending as an investment in people, social cohesion and the country's ability to withstand future challenges.

The International Telecommunication Union presented Giga, its joint initiative with UNICEF supporting school connectivity, and emphasized digital skills and online safety. Connecting a school opens up learning opportunities, making the skills to use that connection safely an essential part of the discussion.

Environmental education featured through CAPS Unlock, which drew on its work with UNESCO, including Climate Change Education Ambition in Central Asia, to call for climate literacy to become part of national education strategies and curricula.

Young People's Experiences Help Set the Next Priorities

IDEA Central Asia brought everyday obstacles into the policy conversation, highlighting transport costs, limited practical learning and unequal opportunities outside major cities. It called for young people to participate from the beginning in identifying problems and designing solutions.

The interactive consultation reinforced the need for teacher support, equitable digital access, sustainable financing and lasting partnerships grounded in national priorities.

The closing discussion produced three proposed subregional priorities for further refinement: closing learning and equity gaps through stronger assessment and targeted support; connecting education pathways with fair, sustainable transitions; and improving implementation through teacher support, equitable financing and responsible digital transformation.

UNESCO will bring the contributions together in a subregional report and consult member states and national SDG 4 coordinators. Recommendations will move forward through the 7th Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education 2030, known as APMED 7, serving as the SDG 4 deep dive alongside the 14th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, scheduled for 23–26 February 2027.

That process will carry North and Central Asian perspectives into the 2027 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York.