Assessment and Policy Implications for Sustainable Quality Education (SDG 4) Across Arab Countries

Abstract This study evaluates progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4: Quality Education) across 22 Arab countries and examines disparities in educational performance using evidence from Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) submitted to the United Nations (UN). A quantitative and comparative approach was adopted using secondary data extracted from VNR reports. SDG 4 scores were analysed using descriptive statistics, country rankings, average score calculations, performance-category distributions, and disparity gap analysis. The results reveal a moderate regional level of performance, with an average SDG 4 score of 2.82 out of 5 across the 22 countries. Qatar recorded the highest score ( 5), while Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine recorded the lowest score (1), resulting in a disparity gap of 4 points. The findings further show that 40.9% of the countries achieved moderate progress, 22.7% demonstrated high progress, 4.5% achieved very high progress, while 13.6% and 18.2% fell within the low- and very-low-progress categories, respectively, highlighting substantial variation in educational progress across the Arab region. The study provides a simple and replicable framework for assessing SDG 4 progress using official UN VNR data and offers evidence-based insights that can support educational policy development, targeted interventions, and regional cooperation towards achieving Quality Education by 2030.