UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 98 of 150

Correct — A, 1 and 2. Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals is the education goal: 'Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.' It carries ten targets — seven outcome targets numbered 4.1 to 4.7 and three means-of-implementation targets lettered 4.a, 4.b and 4.c — and both of the statements the key credits are drawn almost word for word from that list. Statement 1 is target 4.1: 'By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.' The word 'free' is in the target itself, and India's own instrument for it — Article 21-A and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — adds 'compulsory'. Statement 2 is target 4.a: 'Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all', with the digital half of the statement picked up by target 4.4 on technical skills and target 4.b, which names information and communications technology programmes explicitly. Statement 3 is the falsifier. Nothing in Goal 4's ten targets refers to agriculture; expanding agricultural programmes belongs to Goal 2, Zero Hunger, whose target 2.a is about investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services. Rejecting statement 3 removes both option (b) and option (d) in one stroke. That leaves only (a) and (c), which differ solely on statement 2 — and statement 2 is target 4.a almost verbatim, so (c) 'Only 1' is too narrow and (a) is the answer. One honest note on statement 4, because thoughtful candidates stall on it. 'Increasing investment in technology', read generously, is not absurd for an education goal — targets 4.4 and 4.b both name ICT. But as written it is an unqualified, economy-wide statement that maps more naturally onto Goal 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure, and the education-specific technology element is already carried by statement 2. In any case the option set makes the point moot: statement 4 appears in exactly one option, (b), and statement 3 has already destroyed (b). You never have to decide on it.

• (b)1, 2, 3 and 4 — Fails on statement 3, and that is enough. Expansion of agricultural programmes is the business of Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger — target 2.3 on doubling the productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers and target 2.a on increased investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services. Not one of Goal 4's ten targets mentions agriculture. It is true that better nutrition helps children learn, which is why India runs PM POSHAN in its schools, but a spillover benefit from another goal is not a measure prescribed by this one, and the question asks what is essential to achieve Goal 4.
• (c)Only 1 — Correct as far as it goes, but too narrow: it drops statement 2, which is a target in its own right. Target 4.a requires States to 'build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all'. The reason infrastructure was given a separate target is that free schooling with no usable classroom, drinking water, toilet or electricity does not produce the 'quality' and the 'relevant and effective learning outcomes' that target 4.1 itself demands. Access and conditions of learning are treated as two distinct obligations, not one.
• (d)1, 2 and 3 — Right on statements 1 and 2 and wrong on statement 3, for the reason above — agriculture sits under Goal 2, not Goal 4. This is the trap laid for the candidate who reads 'essential to achieve Goal 4' loosely as 'anything that helps children get educated'. On that loose reading almost every Goal qualifies: clean water (Goal 6) keeps girls in school, household income (Goal 1) keeps children out of work, and health (Goal 3) keeps them in the classroom. The question is asking which measures Goal 4's own targets prescribe.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 and sets 17 Goals and 169 targets to be reached by 2030, succeeding the Millennium Development Goals that ran from 2000 to 2015. Goal 4 is the education goal — 'Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all' — and its ten targets divide into two kinds. The outcome targets 4.1 to 4.7 cover completion of free primary and secondary education, early childhood care and pre-primary education, affordable technical and tertiary education, skills for employment, elimination of gender and vulnerability disparities, youth and adult literacy and numeracy, and knowledge for sustainable development and global citizenship. The means-of-implementation targets are 4.a on building and upgrading education facilities, 4.b on scholarships for students from developing countries including in ICT and engineering, and 4.c on increasing the supply of qualified teachers.

Two habits solve this item quickly. The first is goal-ownership: read each statement and ask which Goal's job it is. Agriculture is Goal 2's, industrial technology and innovation are Goal 9's, and that single test disposes of statement 3 and settles the question. The second is to read the option set before adjudicating every statement. Statement 4 is the one that invites a long internal debate, yet it appears in only one option, (b), and (b) also carries statement 3 — so the moment you reject statement 3 you have removed statement 4 from the paper without ever ruling on it. UPPSC's four-option statement questions frequently make one statement structurally irrelevant in exactly this way, and noticing it saves both time and a wrong answer. What is then left is whether school infrastructure belongs to Goal 4, and it plainly does: target 4.a is about nothing else.

• Sustainable Development Goal 4, in full: 'Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.' It has ten targets — 4.1 to 4.7 (outcomes) and 4.a, 4.b and 4.c (means of implementation).
• Target 4.1: 'By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.' This is statement 1.
• Target 4.a: 'Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.' Target 4.4 covers technical and vocational skills and target 4.b names information and communications technology programmes — together these carry statement 2.
• Agriculture belongs to Goal 2, Zero Hunger: target 2.3 addresses the productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers and target 2.a addresses investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services. No target under Goal 4 refers to agriculture.
• India's domestic route to target 4.1 is Article 21-A, inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, together with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which guarantee free and compulsory education to children aged 6 to 14 years.
• The 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda and are to be achieved by 2030; they replaced the Millennium Development Goals of 2000-2015.

• Treating anything that helps children as a Goal 4 measure. Nutrition, clean water and household income all improve learning outcomes but belong to Goals 2, 6 and 1 respectively. The question asks what Goal 4's own targets prescribe.
• Adjudicating every statement when the option set does not require it. Statement 4 appears in only one option; rejecting statement 3 disposes of it without a verdict.
• Confusing Goal 4 with Goal 8 or Goal 9. Skills for decent work do appear in Goal 4's target 4.4, but industry, innovation and technological upgrading are Goal 9's territory.

UPPSC asks the SDGs as goal-to-subject matching, as 'which of the following is NOT a Sustainable Development Goal', and as statement sets on a single goal — it has used all three formats in recent papers. UPSC prefers the institutional and historical framing: who adopted them and when, how they differ from the MDGs, and which body measures or implements what.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Target 4.a of the Sustainable Development Goals relates to which one of the following?

  • (a)Expanding the number of scholarships available to students from developing countries
  • (b)Building and upgrading education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive
  • (c)Substantially increasing the supply of qualified teachers
  • (d)Eliminating gender disparities in education and vocational training

  Answer(b) Building and upgrading education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive — scholarships are target 4.b, the supply of qualified teachers is target 4.c, and elimination of gender disparities is target 4.5.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Increased investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services is a target under which one of the following Sustainable Development Goals?

  • (a)Goal 2 — Zero Hunger
  • (b)Goal 4 — Quality Education
  • (c)Goal 9 — Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
  • (d)Goal 12 — Responsible Consumption and Production

  Answer(a) Goal 2 — Zero Hunger; this is target 2.a. Goal 4 contains no target relating to agriculture, which is why 'expansion of agricultural programmes' is the falsifier in the UPPSC 2024 item.