A/68/294 91. 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. 92. 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”. XIII. United Nations system-wide coordinated approach 93. 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. 94. 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. XIV. Some key issues of critical importance 95. 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. A. Sustained public investment in education as a national priority 96. Experience shows that the “growth in the Human Development Index value is associated with growth in public spending on education”.5 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 13-42277 19/26

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