While the UN's SDG Summit 2023 marks the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda, many of the SDGs are moderately to severely off-track. In this commentary, we place emphasis on addressing hidden quality gaps that can help fix broken interlinkages, and in turn create positive correlations and harness untapped synergies, across goals. To illustrate broken interlinkages between SDGs 4 and 5, we focus on the puzzle of “education without employment” in South Asia. We argue that a hidden form of gender inequality in education quality - gender stereotypes in learning materials – potentially undermines interlinkages between SDG targets in the region, among other factors. If gender inequality in educational production is overlooked, a focus on enrolling more girls will not fix the broken links between SDGs 4 and 5. Addressing hidden gaps in public service quality should be a priority during the final half of the SDG campaign.