This article argues for the need to set priorities to Sustainable Development Goals. It proposes to assign primary focus on goals that, along with being ends in themselves, operate also as means for achieving other objectives – and are therefore of instrumental value also. Education is briefly analyzed as an example of one such goal. In addition, this article addresses population growth, an issue that is not explicitly mentioned in the SDGs but that is arguably relevant for sustainable development. Here (...) too, it is suggested that education can play an important role. (shrink)