Introducing the GEM Report Countdown to 2030 series

The 2025 Spotlight report is the third in the Spotlight series of publications on foundational learning in Africa. In line with the theme of the 2024/5 GEM Report cycle on leadership in education, the 2025 Spotlight Report, Lead for foundational learning, focuses on the way that African education systems prepare school principals and local education officials to make the transition from administrators to instructional leaders so as to improve foundational learning outcomes. The role of parents in supporting this transition is also examined.  

The SDG 4 Scorecard assesses the probability of countries achieving their national education targets. In total, 80% of countries have submitted benchmark values for at least one of eight SDG 4 benchmark indicators. 

The 2025 SDG 4 Scorecard focuses on the out‑of‑school rate showing that countries have collectively committed to reduce their out-of-school population by 165 million by 2030. However, it is projected that by 2025 countries will be off track by four percentage points among those of primary and lower secondary school age and by six percentage points among those of upper secondary school age. In total, this means that, already by 2025, countries will be off-track by 75 million relative to their national targets.

This Scorecard shows that the challenge they face is also larger than previously thought. The global out-of-school population is now estimated to have been 272 million in 2023, 21 million more than the last estimate, based on the UIS and GEM Report model results. 

The 2024/5 GEM Report examines the requirements of good leadership in education and how they vary between countries and over time. 

Leadership is at the heart of quality education. There is a growing belief that educational leadership is the second most important factor, after teachers, explaining learning outcomes. Leaders at multiple levels matter, from those within the school, to those outside of the school such as middle managers, and including those outside of education systems in government, or those working on legislature and oversight. 

Download the full report, the summary version, executive summary, social media resources and visit the report page for more online resources.