Perusing sustainable development through education: evidence from Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan

The prime objective of this inquiry is to analyze the role of education in pursuing the sustainable development (SD) of three developing Muslim countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan from 2000 to 2022. The regression results unveiled that Indonesia is more sustainable and developed than Malaysia and Pakistan. Based on the sustainable development index, Indonesia stood at 5.8, Malaysia at 5.2, and Pakistan at 4.6. The findings also revealed that Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 4 i.e. Quality Education is moderately improving in Malaysia which ranked 72 with a score of 70.4 on the SDGs index. Similarly, Indonesia ranked 82 with a score of 69.2 on the SDGs index. However, Pakistan is lagging and ranked 125 out of 163 countries with a score of 59.3 on the SDGs index. The findings also illuminate that primary, secondary, and tertiary school enrollment has a significant positive, while unemployment has a significant negative impact on SD in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Besides, the student–teacher ratio at the tertiary level also has a significant and negative effect on SD in Malaysia. The student–teacher ratio impacts SD negatively in Pakistan. The results show that the efforts for SDG No. 4 positively contribute to SD. In addition to the scarce incongruent literature, this inquiry also contributes to the practice that education should be the top priority in all three nations due to its significant association with sustainable development, especially when provided in a fair, inclusive, and high-quality manner.