Like most goals , there are also challenges that come with it. The United Nations have highlighted key areas of SDG 4 challenges.
Children and adolescents lack minimum proficiency in reading and mathematics. 20 More than half of the schools in Sub-Sahara Africa do not have access to basic drinking water facilities, internet and computers and 3.27% more girls than boys of primary school age are not attending school. The Sustainable Development UN report for Nigeria stated that the key challenge facing Nigeria is Out-Of-School-Children. In addition, the report also expressed that while 78% of children in the South West can mostly read whereas only about 17% of children in the North West can read.
Another challenge is the provision of funding. Global aid for education has remained stagnant for over the past ten years. There were consistent responses across interviews speaking about the shortage of funds for SDG 4. A lot observed "funding fatigue" or waning interest from donors when they do not see immediate progress and outcomes from a programme. Furthermore , there is a query about government funding priorities. People have expressed concerns about where governments are focusing the budgets they do have.
Lastly another challenge is education in fragile contexts. Due to the increase in conflict and climate disasters, the number of displaced people and refugees has increased exponentially. This significantly affects SDG 4 because it leads to refugee children being five times more likely to be out of school than others.