The post-2015 education agenda

The present report is submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 8/4 and 17/3. It focuses on the role of education in the post-2015 development agenda.¹

1. “Post-2015 development agenda” refers to the international process which will result in development goals intended to replace the Millennium Development Goals. ↩

The present report highlights recent developments in the post-2015 development agenda using a rights-based approach to education and analyses education goals and provides necessary implementation strategies with a focus on action at the national level. The Special Rapporteur stresses the importance of ensuring equity and quality, as well as enhanced public investment, in education. The Special Rapporteur concludes with recommendations on ways to operationalize a rights-based approach to the education-related development goals.

During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur undertook missions to Ecuador and Tunisia, and reported thereon to the Human Rights Council during its twenty-third session. During that session, on 31 May 2013, he presented his thematic report entitled “Justiciability of the right to education” to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/23/35). The report examined questions related to the enforcement of the right to education and highlighted the available jurisprudence at the national, regional and international levels. It also offered recommendations for making the justiciability of the right to education and its enforcement more effective.

The Special Rapporteur participated in a number of public events on education and continued collaborating with States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations. A number of those events and activities had a bearing on the theme of the present report.

In May 2012, the Special Rapporteur delivered a keynote speech at the opening session of the Fourth International Policy Dialogue Forum of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education for All in New Delhi, India, organized by the Government of India in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

In June 2012, the Special Rapporteur participated as keynote speaker at a side event, organized by the International Organization for the Right to Education and Freedom of Education, aimed at promoting quality education. In July, the Special Rapporteur met with a high-level delegation of the Ministry of Education of Thailand at UNESCO headquarters in Paris for a dialogue on teachers’ education, quality imperatives and normative action in the field of education. That was followed by a discussion on the education agenda beyond 2015 in Thailand (considering its Millennium Development Goals Plus commitments) and the country’s policy of 15 years of free education for all.

In September 2012, he gave a keynote address at a seminar organized by the European Ideas Network, in cooperation with the European People’s Party of the European Parliament in Brussels to address the importance of quality education. He also was one of the main speakers at the launch of the publication entitled “Protecting education in insecurity and armed conflict: an international law handbook”, by Education Above All, in New York. He gave a lecture at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York, entitled “Right to a quality education — norms and standards”. The Special Rapporteur attended the high-level launch of the Global Initiative on Education of the Secretary-General, Education First, and made a statement on the post-2015 education agenda.

In November 2012, he spoke on the human rights approach in international cooperation and public policies at a round table on human rights and development cooperation, organized jointly by the National University of Piura, Peru, and the University of Rioja, Spain. He also participated in the Fifth Budapest Human Rights Forum, and served as a panellist on human rights education and training. He was a special invitee to the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha, where Sheikha Moza bint Nasser’s “Educate a Child” initiative was launched. In the same month, he made a statement at the first Global Education for All meeting in Paris, hosted by UNESCO, which brought Governments together to provide quality basic education to all children, youths and adults by 2015.

In December 2012, the Special Rapporteur participated in the fifty-fifth session of the Conférence des ministres de l’éducation des pays ayant le français en partage (CONFEMEN), held in N’Djamena, and gave a speech on the diversification of offers in education and the right to education. The Special Rapporteur emphasized the importance of the right to education in the context of reflections on the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals agenda.

During the same month, he also participated in the high-level advocacy event entitled “Stand up for Malala — girls’ education is a right”, organized in Paris by UNESCO in cooperation with Pakistan, to mark Human Rights Day. He also participated in the Steering Committee seminar of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa in Sèvres, France, and had a dialogue with the Bureau of the Association on key issues and international initiatives in the field of the right to education.

In January 2013, the Special Rapporteur participated as keynote speaker at a seminar on justiciability as an instrument for enforcing the right to education, organized by the Right to Education Forum in New Delhi, India. He participated as a panellist in the first seminar on human rights education and morality, organized as part of a series of seminars on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training by the Centre for Research on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of the University of Paris II, with the support of the French National Commission for UNESCO. He also participated in a working group on education and development organized by the Education and Development wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, in cooperation with the Agence française de développement for reflections on the post-2015 development agenda.

In March 2013, the Special Rapporteur attended the High-level Panel on Human Rights Mainstreaming, with a focus on the areas of the right to education, organized by the Human Rights Council. He made the opening remarks at the side event on education for global citizenship, which was a follow-up to the Secretary-General’s initiative, Education First, organized on 11 March in Geneva by the International Organization for the Right to Education and Freedom of Education in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva. He was the keynote speaker at the side event on vocational education, organized in Geneva on 12 March by Apprentissages sans frontières.

In April 2013, the Special Rapporteur participated in the international academic seminar entitled “Justice for quality education — quality education for democracy” organized in São Paulo, Brazil, by the São Paulo School of Judges and the Faculty of Law at the University of São Paulo, and other partners. On that occasion, he addressed the seminar during its opening session. A publication entitled “Justice for the quality of education” was also released. The Special Rapporteur also gave a closing address to the seminar on the ways in which the justiciability of the right to education and its enforcement could be strengthened.

Also in April 2013, the Special Rapporteur participated in the twelfth session of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, in Geneva, devoted to recognition through education and cultural rights, and spoke on the promotion of equality and opportunity in education for people of African descent.

In May 2013, the Special Rapporteur participated in the Second Global Meeting of the International Group on the Right to Education, organized by the National Academy for Educational Research in Taipei, Taiwan Province of China, and gave the opening address on the right to education and the scenario of international initiatives and post-2015 education-related international development goals.

In June 2013, the Special Rapporteur participated in a number of activities organized during the twenty-third session of the Human Rights Council in support of his report on the justiciability of the right to education, which he had presented on 31 May 2013 to the Council.

He was the lead speaker at a side event organized during the twenty-third session of the Human Rights Council by Ecuador, together with Brazil, India and Morocco, on a human rights-based approach to the right to education. On that occasion, he shared his views on the future of education and the post-2015 development agenda. The event was aimed at providing concrete examples of ways in which countries are implementing a human rights-based approach to education by establishing the right to education in their constitutions and legislative framework and, just as important, by implementing those rights through policies and government action. It also focused on remaining challenges.

During the international expert conference Vienna+20: Advancing the Protection of Human Rights held on 27 and 28 June 2013 in Vienna on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, the Special Rapporteur participated in a working group entitled “Mainstreaming human rights: a human rights-based approach to the post-2015 development agenda”. That experience was of special importance in the context of the present report. The discussions at the working group recognized the importance of the full realization of the right to education as one of the key objectives in the international development agenda beyond 2015.

The Special Rapporteur was a speaker at an expert meeting on Promoting a rights-based approach to financial regulation and economic recovery, organized in Vienna on 1 July 2013, where he focused on the importance of devoting necessary resources for the realization of the right to education.

On 15 and 16 July 2013, the Special Rapporteur attended the event “Educational visions for India: reflections on strategy and action”, organized by the Council for Social Development in New Delhi, India, and chaired and moderated the session on the right to education, emphasizing the importance of State obligations for the right to education under human rights law, as well as the right to education in the post-2015 development agenda.

The right to education, as stipulated in Human Rights Council resolutions 8/4 and 17/3, encompasses the Education for All agenda as well as the Millennium Development Goals. Human Rights Council resolutions 20/7 and 23/4 further expand on the right to education. Resolution 20/7 gives expression to “the role that the full realization of the right to education plays in helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals”. Resolution 23/4 reiterates this, and underlines “the need to ensure that the right to education is central in the context of the post-2015 development agenda”.

The central role of education in accelerating progress towards all the Millennium Development Goals is recognized as a result of commitments relating to education contained in the outcome document of the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals (resolution 65/1). That is critically important since, in spite of progress made, the Education for All agenda remains unfinished, and the progress towards the education-related Millennium Development Goals remains limited.

Some other landmark developments in recent years also give prominence to the right to education in that context. Recognizing the “inter-linkages between education and the advancement of all the other Millennium Development Goals”, the ministerial declaration resulting from the high-level segment of the substantive session of 2011 of the Economic and Social Council underlines “the need to promote the right to education and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the education-related goals, and the Education for All goals”.²

2. See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 3 (A/66/3/Rev.1), chap. III, sect. E. ↩

Furthermore, recent high-level expert discussions on a human rights-based approach to the post-2015 development agenda have underlined the importance of the right to education for the empowerment of individuals and the full realization of all rights, including the right to development.

While participating in the events connected to the Education for All agenda and education-related Millennium Development Goals, the Special Rapporteur emphasized a human rights-based approach and the importance of linking States obligations on the right to education with political commitments. That is crucial in face of challenges posed by insufficient progress and persistent educational inequities among and within countries, resulting in marginalization and exclusion in education. In discussions led by UNESCO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), it has become apparent that a human rights-based approach, with a stronger focus on equity and quality, is needed to shape the global development agenda beyond 2015.

Despite recent progress in education worldwide, in some countries unprecedented disparities in access to education have been witnessed, as well as poor learning achievements as the demand for education grows and the forms of education offered become more diverse. In many parts of the world inequalities in opportunities for education will be exacerbated by the growth of unregulated private providers of education, with wealth or economic status becoming the most important criterion to access a quality education. Even quality basic education is becoming a privilege of the wealthy, whereas it should progressively be made free at all levels in line with international legal obligations of States under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other human rights conventions. As such, States must be reminded of their core obligation to ensure that the right to education without discrimination or exclusion is fully respected and fulfilled. They must abide by the fundamental principles of non-discrimination and equality of opportunity for all in education, if the existing gap between the commitments of the Millennium Development Goals agenda and the reality witnessed is to be avoided in the future. Those principles are common to almost all international human rights conventions, and should be the determining factor in shaping a future development agenda.

Reflections on such an agenda, and the widespread consultation process by the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, has resulted in the report presented to the Secretary-General on 30 May 2013, entitled A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development.³ The report of the High-level Panel envisages the scenario in which no person is denied universal human rights and basic economic opportunities, and where accountable institutions are built and a new partnership between the developed and developing nations is forged. It proposes an agenda for post-2015 development planning which seeks to “provide a fresh vision and framework, based on our common humanity” and “to achieve a pattern of development where dignity and human rights become a reality for all”. The report lists 12 illustrative goals and sets out a universal agenda to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 and deliver on the promise of sustainable development. Taking into consideration the report and the discussions that are being conducted, most importantly those by the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, the international community will finally define the post-2015 development agenda.

3. United Nations, A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustainable Development. Report of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (New York, 2013). ↩

Human Rights Council resolution 23/4 on the right to education takes note of “international initiatives aimed at discussing and advancing the education agenda beyond 2015”, while underlining the importance of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and other ongoing consultation processes. The international forum on education and the Millennium Development Goals agenda being organized by the Government of Kazakhstan for August 2013 demonstrates the significant interest for regional discussions on education and the post-2015 development agenda.

In the recently conducted Global Thematic Consultation on Education, various aspects of the right to education were emphasized. The draft report resulting from the consultation states that one of the strongest themes that emerged in the education consultations was that the education framework should be guided by a rights-based approach in which rights are indivisible, addressing all aspects of education, including the learning environment, the teaching and learning process, Government policy, school governance and teachers.⁴

4. UNICEF, “Education in the post-2015 development agenda: draft synthesis report of the Global Thematic Consultation on Education” (New York, 2013). ↩

In the context of ongoing discussions, and pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 23/4, the right to education deserves foremost consideration in the post-2015 development agenda. Thus, an appraisal from a right-to-education perspective of a universal goal on education, and of other universal goals, notably on poverty eradication and on women’s empowerment as proposed in the report of the High-level Panel, is crucial. The Special Rapporteur wishes to underline that all development goals are underpinned by educational dimensions, and must be looked at from such a perspective.

The Special Rapporteur believes that the right to education must be emphasized in the post-2015 development agenda for many reasons. Education is a fundamental building block for human development and is invaluable for individual and social transformation. Education enables children to prepare for democratic citizenship and responsibilities of the future. Education is central to poverty eradication strategies and the achievement of global commitments for sustainable development. Growth in the human development index employed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is associated with growth in public spending on education: education is the best investment a country can make. Education is essential for the empowerment of women, making them agents of change and of social transformation. Education is crucial for conflict prevention, peacebuilding and promoting solidarity. Education is an inalienable human right of every child, boys and girls alike. All development goals have educational dimensions and the right to education provides indispensable leverage for development.

The right to education, which is essential for the exercise of all other human rights, is therefore of paramount importance in national and international development agendas and in public policies and global partnerships. Full realization of the right to quality education for all as a fundamental human right is a determining factor in achieving a future agenda, emerging from a broad global development vision.

The importance of taking a human rights-based approach to the post-2015 development agenda was emphasized earlier this year during the meeting of the High-level Panel on Human Rights Mainstreaming on mainstreaming human rights into the development agenda with the focus on areas of the right to education, organized by the Human Rights Council on 1 March 2013.

In his remarks to the High-level Panel, the Secretary-General expressed his concern that too many primary school-age children are still not in school, and too many leave school without learning the most basic skills, and that education is hope and dignity, growth and empowerment, and the basic building block of every society and a pathway out of poverty.

Also at the meeting, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the universal right to education is central to the human rights approach and that education is essential to the achievement of the right to development, enabling all people, without discrimination of any kind, to take an active part in the process.

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser expressed her continuing engagement for the full realization of the right to education, which is a fundamental right of every child, as epitomized by her “Educate a Child” initiative for providing quality education for the world’s children and youth who are still out of school.

The Director-General of UNESCO underlined the transformational power of education that makes it the force that brings sustainability to all development and stressed that the future development agenda must start with equity to ensure everyone can exercise the right to education, to training and to learning opportunities.

A human rights-based approach imparts strength and legitimacy to the development agenda and provides a firm foundation for action at the national level. The adoption of a human rights perspective to the development agenda implies, among other things, a careful screening of national legal instruments that frame educational systems and policies in countries, linking political commitments of Governments to the international obligations under human rights law.

A rights-based approach recognizes that all human rights are universal and indivisible, and provide for equality, participation, transparency and accountability. The education goals and targets should apply to all nations. National targets should be developed in full consultation with citizens and civil society. Each goal must ensure that education is available to all, and when limited by the lack of resources it is made progressively available without discrimination. Education goals, implementation efforts and financing by Governments must be transparent. Finally, through national legislation, the right to education shall be given to all people, who shall have national recourse to ensure those commitments are honoured.

A focus on an effective implementation strategy, as well as monitoring mechanisms and accountability measures, is vital in addressing the gap between commitments and reality in achieving Education for All and education-related Millennium Development Goals. Thus, in a development agenda, such strategy should be formulated for the benefit of Governments. The recognition of the right to education and the fulfilment of connected State obligations should be crucial to the implementation of such an agenda, bearing in mind the concepts of “rights-holders” and “duty-bearers”. People have the equal right to receive an education, and can hold their Government to account to address discriminatory practices or the failure to provide for their education. Governments in turn have the duty to provide education, and their obligations are based in national and international law.

The Special Rapporteur thus considers it necessary that each universal goal should be accompanied by implementation strategies which can be taken into consideration by Governments. The implementation strategy reflected in the explanations in the report of the High-level Panel should be further developed: the post-2015 development agenda should first state the goal and then propose implementation strategies, followed by the monitoring mechanisms, accountability and enforcement.

A rights-based approach is grounded in legal rather than political obligations. Governments should be encouraged to develop a national legal framework, including constitutional provisions on the right to education as well as education laws and related regulations and decrees. Any implementation strategies must underline the need to modernize national legislation to meet the objectives contained in the education goals and targets. Key areas that should be addressed include defining quality education, the financing of education, the inclusion of skill development and technical education and vocational training, regulating the private providers of education and providing for adult literacy and lifelong learning programmes.

The Special Rapporteur welcomes the importance attached to equitable approaches to education in favour of the marginalized and the vulnerable in the report of the High-level Panel. That requires emphasis on the adoption of positive measures such as affirmative action and social protection schemes that target disadvantaged and vulnerable groups to ensure that they have equitable access to education.

The right to education is among the most widely recognized international rights. Education-related goals should apply universally, with nationally relevant targets. The report of the High-level Panel recognizes the importance of pre-primary, primary and secondary education, as well as technical and vocational skills development. Adult literacy is mentioned in the report, though not included as a suggested goal. The illustrative goals also seek to address access, non-discrimination and minimum learning standards.

Education is a continuum that begins before formal primary education starts and continues after secondary school. The importance of early childhood care and education along with the role of family is crucial in preparing children for education and is a welcome inclusion to the agenda. The post-2015 development agenda must also address the needs of millions of adults in terms of basic levels of literacy and numeracy, linking that to skill development.

The proposed education agenda is similar to the one put forth by the Special Rapporteur in his report to the General Assembly on technical and vocational education and training from a right to education perspective (A/67/310), proposing that the future agenda for education should build upon and consolidate developments in many countries, modernizing national legislation and providing for basic education of longer duration (nine years) as part of general secondary education. Those developments should include quality learning based on technical and vocational education and training in order to meet the critical challenges of an increasingly globalized economy.

In the post-2015 development agenda, an education goal should have the objective not only to make education accessible at the secondary level to all, but the completion of secondary-level education of good quality by 2030 (the time frame for the agenda), with a special place for technical and vocational education and training as an integral part of secondary education, in making education relevant and useful to the world of work. The universal goal on education should thus be broadened.

In the post-2015 development agenda, each education goal and target should emphasize universal access, without discrimination, to high quality education that ensures minimum learning standards.

Each goal and target must be incorporated into national laws and policies to ensure that those political commitments become rights-based. National legislation should clearly describe the Government’s obligations, indicating how future goals will be achieved progressively and how funding will be provided. Indicators and supporting statistical institutions should also be identified, including time-based targets.

The importance attached to skills development, including technical and vocational education and training, in the report of the High-level Panel is commendable. It is particularly necessary in order to meet the critical challenges of an increasingly globalized economy and the rising aspirations of youth. The target can be refined, however, by stipulating that skills development and technical and vocational education and training should be an integral part of secondary education, with pathways for the pursuit of higher education.

In order to ensure that technical and vocational education and training programmes are relevant to local economic opportunities, the strategy should aim at fostering action at the national level aimed at developing public-private partnerships under the overall reasonability of States, within the framework of an institutionalized collaboration between technical and vocational education and training institutions and enterprises, and anchored by human rights. Such partnerships are necessary to mitigate prevalent weaknesses in that area, especially in the developing world, where much more strong linkages between technical and vocational education and training institutions and enterprises are essential for making the system of technical and vocational education and training more responsive to growing skill demands and giving it greater capacity for contributing to industrial and socioeconomic development.

Implementation strategies could create national targets for achieving a minimum percentage (for instance, 30 or 40 per cent) of secondary- and tertiary-level education graduates that have vocational and technical skills and professional specialization in various sectors, in keeping with a country’s evolving requirements.

Lifelong learning was emphasized in the UNESCO World Education Report 2000: The Right to Education — Towards Education for All throughout Life (Paris, 2000). Rather than being a time-bound goal to be achieved by 2030, lifelong learning is a permanent and steadily growing necessity. At minimum, a lifelong learning goal that provides for adult literacy and numeracy programmes must be included in the agenda to ensure that the millions of illiterate adults are able to realize their right to a basic education.

In a globalized economy, employment opportunities are shifting quickly. The rapid ongoing evolution in the information technology sector requires continuing access to technical education. A global goal for lifelong learning may include the right to minimum literacy, but could also include lifelong access to technical and vocational education and training programmes, or other career training.

The growing importance of lifelong learning as a means to find employment and escape poverty suggests that it be better studied and clarified as part of the right to education.

A normative framework should be developed from a right to education perspective. That will in turn expand the legal framework for the right to education, and widen its connotations as an overarching right.

That quality has been neglected in the pursuit of Education for All and education-related Millennium Development Goals is well known. There is widespread concern over poor learning achievements. Regrettably, the right to quality basic education for all remains unfulfilled. The post-2015 development agenda should seek to ensure that quality is not sacrificed while expanding access to education.

The post-2015 development agenda should emphasize the need for normative action aimed at the development of minimum quality norms and standards, applicable in both public and private schools. It should stipulate that countries adopt national quality evaluation and learning assessments mechanisms, to be applied throughout the education process. Governments must also ensure that teachers are well qualified, supported through professional development opportunities and motivated and professionally committed. The teaching profession should be made more attractive to ensure it is able to attract the best candidates by promoting the profession’s standing in society and by improving teachers’ working conditions and professional development prospects, including respectable salaries for teachers. The challenges are again daunting, not only in the face of a dearth of qualified teachers, but in devising novel modalities of teacher training in tandem with reforms in education.

Poverty is the greatest obstacle to the enjoyment of the right to education as well as the right to development for nearly 1.3 billion people who still live in extreme poverty, and its elimination is indeed an overriding development concern.

In that respect, the Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize that education is a powerful tool in poverty eradication. A shortcoming of the report of the High-level Panel, however, is that such an approach is not reflected in the first illustrative goal on poverty eradication.

In the post-2015 development agenda, the key importance of the right to education as a powerful lever for eliminating the intergenerational transmission of poverty must figure prominently. The achievement of internationally agreed targets for poverty eradication will be missed and inequalities between countries and within societies will widen if education is not intertwined with the future goal on poverty eradication.

The strategies should be guided by equitable approaches, along with social protection measures for enabling children from poor households to avail themselves of their fundamental right to education.

That requires permanent support to the enjoyment of the universal right to education in the form of grants and bursaries to be provided to the children who are victims of exclusion, in particular those who are victims of extreme poverty. Such affirmative action and promotional measures have a normative basis in international human rights conventions. Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides for “an adequate fellowship system” among its provisions on the right to education.

The Special Rapporteur would like to note that the illustrative goal proposed in the report of the High-level Panel related to women’s empowerment seems to be a regression as compared to the second Millennium Development Goal to promote gender equality, including in access to primary and secondary and technical education. Achieving a girl’s right to education as a priority is an absolute requirement, as historically women have suffered from injustice, and girls and women constitute a majority of those who remain deprived of education.

The right to education for women and girls should be driven by a rights-based approach. That is essential for putting an end to multiple forms of discrimination from which women and girls suffer. A rights-based approach implies that educating women and girls should, a priori, be viewed as a human rights imperative, rather than being undertaken solely because of potential benefits to their children or to society. “Greater equity, including between men and women and among other groups, is not only essential in itself, but also important for promoting human development. One of the most powerful instruments for this purpose is education”.⁵

5. UNDP, Human Development Report 2013: The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World (New York, 2013). ↩

Action at the national level should be supportive of legislative developments and specific laws for women’s empowerment through education within the framework of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as a follow up to the ministerial declaration of the high-level segment of the substantive session of 2010 of the Economic and Social Council.

That the importance of education is not only a right in itself, but also is essential for the enjoyment of all other rights must be recognized in the post-2015 development agenda. As already mentioned, poverty cannot be eradicated without education. The key role of education should be clearly recognized for the empowerment of women and girls. Unemployed youth and adults require additional education and training to develop skills and find decent work. Education can promote values necessary for creating democratic, stable and peaceful societies.

The central role of education in accelerating progress towards all Millennium Development Goals is now recognized and clearly shows that any goal that is set for a future development agenda should be underpinned by educational dimensions, and the post-2015 development agenda must invariably take into account such educational dimensions. Its importance is also reflected in the Global Initiative on Education of the Secretary-General, Education First, mentioned above, which sets out a vision to make education a top priority of the global political agenda. The post-2015 development agenda must build upon the Initiative, along with a human rights-based concept of sustainable development.

Human rights standards provide a normative framework that grounds development work within a universal set of values and human rights standards also provide an important tool for ensuring that development is pursued in an equitable, just and sustainable manner. Development cannot be sustainable if it is not anchored by human rights. Indeed, human rights instruments provide the foundation that is essential to ensure that all people benefit from development. In addition, the rule of law and development, which are strongly interrelated and are mutually reinforcing, are also essential in the post-2015 development agenda.

Aligning development strategies with human rights norms and principles would enhance the chances of achieving sustainable development goals, as such an alignment implies, among other things, paying serious attention to the core principles of non-discrimination and equality in the formulation and implementation of policy decisions. That is essential in order to avoid economic progress that continues to leave untouched those who remain marginalized.

Norms and principles expressed in the Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the General Assembly in 1986, are of abiding significance, and also provide a basis for the formulation and implementation of the development agenda. The Declaration recognizes that the human person is the central subject of development and should be the active participant and beneficiary of the right to development. In several respects, the right to education and the right to development are mutually reinforcing, and that should be taken into consideration in the post-2015 development agenda.

The proposed post-2015 development agenda should also advance a framework of international development cooperation, founded upon the principle of international solidarity. International support is critically important in assisting the developing world in achieving the right to education, especially the poorest and most fragile States. Financial and technical support must be provided to least developed countries by development partners to implement their national education plans and programmes, while recognizing the need for strengthening national education systems. The emerging concept of “responsible sovereignty”, whereby countries would engage in “fair, rule-based and accountable international cooperation, joining in collective endeavours that enhance global welfare”,Error: Reference source not found must also be taken into consideration in the post-2015 development agenda.

Though education is a primary responsibility of Governments, it is also a social responsibility, and it involves roles by and responsibilities for all providers of education and various stakeholders.

As the report of the High-level Panel states, national Governments have the central role and responsibility “to translate the vision and goals of the post-2015 [development] agenda into practical reality” and “local authorities form a vital bridge between national Governments, communities and citizens”, who will all have a critical role in a new global partnership. The report also states that each partner in the global partnership has a specific role to play.Error: Reference source not found

The participation and engagement of civil society organizations, including in particular teachers, students, their parents and communities, is important for a well-functioning national education system, and for its success.

Education systems of tomorrow need to be designed so that they clearly delineate the roles and responsibility of various stakeholders, which include communities, local bodies, teachers and parents. To that end, a legal framework should be put in place that applies to all providers of education, public and private, and is fully respectful of the right to education as a fundamental human right, with Governments having primary responsibility, in keeping with human rights obligations.

It is also important that Governments maintain a dialogue with all stakeholders and civil society partners, so that they are encouraged in their continuous engagement for promoting the right to education as being central to the development agenda. Once again, to “use human rights as a binding legal framework with a focus on core human rights obligations”⁶ strengthens the legitimacy and credibility of all policy areas. In that spirit, good communication strategies seeking the active involvement of the whole education community in achieving the agreed education goal in the post-2015 development agenda are important.

6. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Vienna+20: Advancing The Protection of Human Rights: Achievements, Challenges and Perspectives 20 Years after the World Conference. Report of the International Expert Conference (Vienna, 2013). ↩

Measuring, reporting on and ensuring that any future development goals are nationally enforceable will be instrumental in achieving successful progression towards their realization.

The report of the High-level Panel has recommended that a new global review mechanism for the post-2015 commitments be established based on international human rights standards, and that an independent review with effective civil society participation also be established. The report states that “any new goals should be accompanied by an independent and rigorous monitoring system, with regular opportunities to report on progress and shortcomings at a high political level”.Error: Reference source not found The idea of an “institutional framework” has also been advanced in that respect.

It is necessary that existing legal obligations be operationalized in goals, targets and benchmarks, along with the development of national action plans and programmes with benchmarks for the progressive realization of a human rights-based approach.

Developing a set of indicators and their use is therefore important. Such a set of indicators will enable legal mechanisms to better identify and assess whether Government policies, programmes and their implementation are leading to improved education and learning achievements. Indicators also enable the examination of situations to ensure that vulnerable groups are not being left behind. Disaggregated indicators are important for revealing disparities among vulnerable groups, and show rural and urban divides or disparate effects on the poor.

Indicators can also show the extent to which Governments fulfil their obligations and commitments, and the accountability gap. Under a rights-based framework, such indicators demonstrate the progressive realization of education rights and provide a basis upon which legitimate complaints against Governments can be made when efforts are lacking. The responsibility of Governments is perceived as involving their accountability to achieve agreed outcomes, rather than in terms of mere political commitment devoid of enforcement.

With accountability as a cornerstone of the post-2015 development agenda, emphasis should be laid on those mechanisms that can hold Governments accountable to their commitments. Thus, a sound framework of accountability with appropriate indicators should be an integral part of the post-2015 development goals. In his remarks at the High-level Panel on Human Rights Mainstreaming, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that a human rights approach emphasizes accountability mechanisms, changing the commitments the post-2015 process should agree to monitor — for example, those based on human rights standards — and how we should agree to monitor them — for example, in a participatory fashion.

The Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize, however, that accountability will remain a bare concept if it is not further linked to the enforcement of the right to education in situations where the commitments remain unfulfilled. Formulating the agenda in that spirit would better respond to the propositions in the report of the High-level Panel, as it recommends, as stated above, that “any new goals should be accompanied by an independent and rigorous monitoring system, with regular opportunities to report on progress and shortcomings at a high political level”.Error: Reference source not found

Monitoring the implementation of education goals must be closely tied to national enforcement mechanisms. Merely placing the right to education at centre stage in the development agenda is not enough: it is equally crucial to safeguard it in case of its violation or breach and to ensure its full enforcement and protection. The right-holders should have the ability to claim their entitlements and challenge Governments to meet their obligations and live up to their international commitment when they are not being respected and fulfilled.

Access to justice is of foremost importance for getting the rights enforced. This is acknowledged in the Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels. The right to education is a justiciable right, and that should be recognized in the future agenda.

Accordingly, Governments should work towards making their commitments justiciable in their national legal systems, recognizing that they are all founded in international law. As the Special Rapporteur stated in his report to the Human Rights Council, courts, national human rights institutions and administrative or quasi-judicial mechanisms are important mechanisms for citizens to engage Governments, in order to ensure their rights are respected.

A United Nations system-wide coordinated approach is important for protecting and promoting the right to education. That must be taken into account in the post-2015 development agenda.

Focus on the right to education in the post-2015 development agenda also implies human rights education and learning as an objective of education. States and other relevant stakeholders should intensify action at the national level, pursuant to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training as a means to give full effect to the right to education worldwide. Universally recognized human rights values and democratic principles should be embedded in any education system.

Governments could also draw upon experience gained in the pursuit of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) in their pursuit of the overall goal to integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning.

Education is crucial for conflict prevention, peacebuilding and promoting solidarity; its importance as a global unifying force must be recognized in the future development agenda.

Education for global citizenship and value-based education which the Global Initiative on Education of the Secretary-General, Education First, strives to foster and promote, provides key parameters for human rights education and learning. Moreover, in keeping with the Initiative, the future agenda should seek to create a generation that values education as the “common good”.

Almost no agency of the United Nations system is without some interest in education. The right to education is an integral part of the institutional mission of UNESCO, and is a high priority. Both UNESCO and UNICEF have been tasked with the mission to prepare children for the responsibilities of the future. Education is also important in the work of UNDP as an indispensable tool for poverty reduction strategies. Technical and vocational education and training and skills development have importance in the work of several agencies, such as the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the World Bank, as well.

Measures at the national level for the implementation of the education goal in the post-2015 development agenda can be boosted by their integration with the work of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies as well as those of the Human Rights Council, which periodically assess and make recommendations regarding the fulfilment, inter alia, of the right to education. The recommendations resulting from the universal periodic review of the Human Rights Council often underline the importance of devoting enhanced resources to education as a priority and the responsibility Governments have in promoting the right to education in its various dimensions.

In the process of the formulation of education-related goals in the post-2015 development agenda, some key issues of critical importance deserve special attention.

Experience shows that the “growth in the Human Development Index value is associated with growth in public spending on education”.Error: Reference source not found No State committed to fostering development can afford to neglect to invest in education. Increased domestic and international investment in education is fundamental to boosting progress towards the achievement of a development agenda. Education is the best investment a country can make and it must be a permanent priority. As mentioned above, the recommendations resulting from the universal periodic review of the Human Rights Council often underline the importance of devoting enhanced resources to education as a priority, and the responsibility Governments have in promoting and protecting the right to education in its various dimensions. The post-2015 development agenda should necessarily contain clear and firm commitments by States to provide necessary resources as part of their human rights obligations.

Even though there may be a consensus on the need to ensure State investment in the education sector, a legal framework is crucial for sustained political and financial support; efforts to promote the expansion of education opportunities may fail if they are not well anchored by a legal framework that not only ensures the right to education on a basis of equal opportunities, but also guarantees continued State investment in this strategic sector.

In this respect, provisions for public funding for education, especially basic education, in constitutional and national legislation and educational policies in some countries provide practical examples.

Education should be central to the notion and concepts of global public goods and intellectual commons which are increasingly being discussed in international forums. Education benefits both the individual and the society, and it should be safeguarded by avoiding its mercantilization, geared towards commercial gains only. Providing public services that contribute to a healthy, educated labour force helps build national stability and strengthens the legitimacy of government. Education should be preserved as a public good so that it does not become devoid of social interest.

To address the rise of private schools, comprehensive regulatory frameworks are necessary to ensure their conformity with education norms and standards. While private schools can be an important partner in delivering education, it must be recalled that private companies focus on maximizing profit. While preserving public interest in education, effective sanctions in the case of abusive practices by private providers of education are necessary. Policymakers must “face up squarely to their responsibilities. They cannot leave it to market forces or some kind of self-regulation to put things right when they go wrong”.⁷

7. UNESCO, Learning: The Treasure Within, Report of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century (Paris, 1998). ↩

At a time when market-based approaches in government are becoming prevalent, Governments must be reminded of their primary responsibility to ensure social equality without discrimination, which arises from growth-focused policies.

Building on the experience of mechanisms such as the Network of Parliamentarians for Education and a Culture of Peace, established by UNESCO, importance should be given to the role that parliamentarians have in the implementation of the education agenda, including advocacy for developing and implementing laws and the fulfilment of commitments of government to education.

The system of education should be inspired by a humanistic rather than by a mere utilitarian vision of education. That is of utmost importance, as the humanistic mission of education is being vitiated. It is therefore important to pay critical attention to that phenomenon, so that education is inspired by a great humanistic vision rather than a merely utilitarian one that only considers education in terms of its material value.

The principle of social justice is at the core of the global mission of the United Nations to promote development and human dignity, and the principles of social justice and equity are reflected in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. They are of abiding importance in guiding State actions and should receive renewed emphasis in the post-2015 development agenda.

The human rights-based approach being embraced in the ongoing discussions on the post-2015 development agenda is a decisive advance over the way the Millennium Development Goals were formulated. Such an approach has special importance in terms of human rights law and State obligations, and the consequent accountability of Governments to live up to their commitments.

The momentum and engagement produced by the post-2015 development agenda should be leveraged to bring an international framework to the broader realization of the right to education for all. This is highly important, as the right to education is an overarching right — it is essential for the exercise of all other human rights — and warrants that education should be considered as the foundation of the post-2015 development agenda, as endorsed in Human Rights Council resolution 23/4, which underlines “the need to ensure that the right to education is central in the context of the post-2015 agenda”.

Bearing in mind the importance of operationalizing such a conceptual approach, and the perspectives on education goals presented in the present report, the Special Rapporteur would like to offer the following recommendations.

In contrast to the Millennium Development Goals, the post-2015 development agenda should create an overarching framework of education which is all-inclusive. A global, rights-based approach should address the entire continuum of education and learning, from early childhood to lifelong learning. It should emphasize State obligations and compliance with norms and standards for the right to education for all for both public and private schools. A rights-based approach should address all aspects of education, and universal education goals in future agendas should be universally applicable.

Guided by a rights-based approach, education goals should be formulated as entitlements, with the corresponding responsibility of Governments to their citizens to deliver on the goals and targets. Thus, the education agenda should be devised along the lines of rights-holders and duty-bearers: rights-holders include children, youth and adults who are entitled to receive or equitably access available education programmes; duty-bearers include Governments, or partners that assist Governments in their obligation to provide the policies, programmes and institutions that implement the right to education. As primary duty-bearers for the realization of the right to education, Governments are first and foremost responsible for providing a national education system that lives up to their commitments.

Post-2015 agendas for education must address marginalization and exclusion in education with equitable approaches in favour of the marginalized and the vulnerable. States have the responsibility to provide an education without discrimination or exclusion.

The promotion of equality of opportunity in education requires an emphasis on inclusive approaches and the adoption of positive measures, including affirmative action and social schemes, targeting disadvantaged and vulnerable groups to ensure that they have equitable access to education.

Aligning development planning with human rights norms and principles is essential to avoid economic progress that continues to leave untouched those who remain marginalized and therefore are deprived of educational opportunities.

In today’s globalized economy, completion of primary education is just not enough. To ensure that education is relevant and useful, education goals in the post-2015 development agenda should have the objective of achieving by 2030 universal secondary-level education for all, with vocational and technical education and training as an integral part in order to respond to the rising aspirations of youth and to meet the critical challenges of an increasingly globalized economy.

Primary education as a core obligation of States must be available to all children, regardless of their circumstances; other levels of education where access is subject to availability must also be offered to all children, regardless of their circumstances.

Quality has been neglected in the pursuit of education-related Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All agenda; the right to basic education of good quality for all remains unfulfilled. The post-2015 development agenda should engage States more resolutely in promoting and ensuring that the right to a quality education for all is given without discrimination or exclusion. Education of high quality is imperative for responding to the rising aspiration of youth and for creating a better future for them. While expanding access to education for all, Governments must take full care to ensure that minimum standards in education are maintained.

Each education goal and target must be accompanied by an implementation strategy and monitoring mechanisms, which should cover both access and quality at each level of education, aimed at enhancing learning achievements. The strategy should be guided by equitable approaches, along with social protection measures and support in the form of grants and bursaries to the children who are victims of exclusion, in particular those who are victims of extreme poverty. This is crucial for meeting challenges in overcoming unprecedented disparities in access and quality as the demand for education grows and what is on offer becomes more diverse.

Education is a core responsibility of the Government; it is also a social responsibility, involving the participation and engagement of civil society organizations and various stakeholders. Education systems of tomorrow need to be designed so that they clearly delineate the roles and responsibilities of all partners and of various stakeholders, including communities, local bodies, teachers and parents. A comprehensive legal framework, which is applicable to all providers of education, public and private, and is fully respectful of the right to education as a fundamental human right, must inform the implementation strategy.

Exploding demands for education have led to an exponential growth of private providers of education. A comprehensive and sound regulatory framework for controlling private educational institutions and ensuring their conformity with norms and standards is required. While preserving public interest in education, a system of effective sanctions in the case of abusive practices by private providers of education must exist.

The central role of education in accelerating progress towards all Millennium Development Goals is recognized in the context of the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals, held in 2010. It deserves continued and enhanced attention, since all development goals are underpinned by educational dimensions. The right to education, with its pivotal role in development, should be embedded in all such goals. The post-2015 development agenda must build upon the Global Initiative on Education of the Secretary-General, Education First, which sets out a vision to make education a top priority of the global political agenda. High priority should be given to education in national development and the right to education as an integral part of development planning and the implementation of policies and programmes. The right to education deserves strategic consideration in public policies and in global partnerships.

Poverty is the greatest obstacle to the enjoyment of the right to education as well as the right to development, and its elimination is an overriding development concern. A universal goal to eliminate poverty should be intertwined with a universal goal on education, in consideration of the key importance of the right to education as a powerful lever in the elimination of the intergenerational transmission of poverty. An implementation strategy should provide permanent support in the form of grants and bursaries to the children who remain deprived of education, in particular children who are victims of extreme poverty.

Similarly, a universal goal related to women’s empowerment should be closely linked to education as a fundamental right, with special measures in favour of women and girls in vulnerable and marginalized situations. Educating women and girls should, a priori, be viewed as a human rights imperative, rather than being undertaken solely because of potential benefits to their children or to society. States must develop “legislative developments” and adopt specific laws for women’s empowerment through education within the framework of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

National legislation establishing the right to basic education has been developed in many countries as part of the Education for All process. Governments must be encouraged to carry that process further so that education laws are modernized to address education quality, financing, the provision of technical and vocational education and training, the regulation of private providers of education and lifelong learning.

Developing appropriate process and outcome indicators with national targets and benchmarks must be an integral part of all implementation strategies. Measuring, reporting on and ensuring that any future development goals are nationally enforceable will be instrumental in achieving progress. National targets must be equitable and must address measures related to quality, access and learning achievements. International minimum learning standards should be included.

Existing legal obligations must be operationalized in goals and targets to assess progress in achieving the right to a quality education. Goals and targets for progressive implementation should require Governments to annually report on progress through indicators. Where possible, indicators should include benchmarks that must be reached within an agreed time frame.

No State committed to fostering development can afford to neglect to invest in education. Recognizing that the right to development and the right to education are mutually reinforcing, investment must be a continuous priority. Efforts to promote the expansion of education opportunities may fail if they are not sustained by political and financial support and by a legal framework that guarantees continued State investment in this strategic sector. The education agenda should necessarily contain clear and firm commitments by States to provide necessary resources as part of their human rights obligations.

Accountability should be a cornerstone of the post-2015 development agenda, with emphasis on mechanisms to hold Governments accountable to their commitments. Existing legal obligations must be operationalized in goals and targets along with the development of national action plans and programmes with benchmarks for the progressive realization of the right to education.

Indicators are crucial in addressing the accountability gap, and can demonstrate the extent to which Government obligations and commitments are fulfilled.

A defining feature of a human rights-based approach to development is characterized by accountability. A rights-based approach presupposes that the rights are legally defined and are enforceable. It is therefore important that post-2015 education goals and targets be made enforceable in a national context.

The rights-holders should have the ability to challenge Governments to meet their international obligations when they are not being respected and fulfilled. Access to justice is of foremost importance for getting the rights enforced. The right to education is a justiciable right, and that should be recognized in the future agenda. Governments should, therefore, work towards making their commitments justiciable in their national legal systems, recognizing that they are all founded in international law.

Accordingly, effective enforcement mechanisms linked to Government accountability should be foreseen in the future agenda. The agenda should contain provisions enabling individuals and groups to claim their right to education as an entitlement in the case of violation or lack of its fulfilment. In this respect, the special role of ombudspersons and national human rights institutions and public human rights defenders should be recognized.

Education should be central to the notion and concepts of global public goods and intellectual commons, which are increasingly being discussed in international forums. Education benefits both the individual and the society and social interest in education must be protected with regard to its mercantilization, geared towards commercial gains only. Education should be preserved as a public good and not be allowed to be reduced to a mere business.

Measures at the national level for the implementation of education goal in the post-2015 agenda can be boosted by its integration with the work of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies as well as of the Human Rights Council, which periodically assess and make recommendations regarding the fulfilment, inter alia, of the right to education. While submitting their reports to the United Nations human rights treaty bodies or to the Human Rights Council, States should indicate measures taken pursuant to the post-2015 education-related development agenda.

States in fragile situations and least developed countries may encounter difficulties in achieving the universal education goals of the post-2015 development agenda. In a spirit of international cooperation and solidarity, they should be supported by the international community in their implementation endeavour. Increased domestic and international investment in education is fundamental to boosting progress towards the achievement of development agendas.

The system of education should be inspired by a humanistic mission rather than by a mere utilitarian role of education. This is of utmost importance, as the humanistic mission of education is being vitiated. It is therefore important to pay critical attention to the human rights values and norms and to global citizenship as part of the humanistic mission of education so that education is aimed at promoting its essential objectives and meeting basic learning needs.

Finally, the post-2015 development agenda should be founded upon certain key principles. The principle of social justice is at the core of the global mission of the United Nations to promote development and human dignity, and the principles of social justice and equity are reflected in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These are of abiding importance in guiding State actions and should receive renewed emphasis in the post-2015 development agenda, with a view to creating a better world for present and future generations.