13. Calls upon States to scale up scientifically accurate and age-appropriate comprehensive education, relevant to cultural contexts, that provides adolescent girls and boys and young women and men, in and out of school, consistent with their evolving capacities, and with appropriate direction and guidance from parents and legal guardians, with the best interests of the child as their basic concern, with information on sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention, gender equality and women’s empowerment, human rights, physical, psychological and pubertal development and power in relationships between women and men, to enable them to build self-esteem and foster informed decision-making, communication and risk- reduction skills and to develop respectful relationships, in full partnership with young people, parents, legal guardians, caregivers, educators and health-care providers, in order to, inter alia, enable them protect themselves from HIV infection and other risks;

39. Reaffirms the right to education for all and the importance of ensuring safe enabling learning environments in humanitarian emergencies, as well as quality education at all levels, including for girls, including technical and vocational training opportunities, where possible, including through adequate funding and infrastructura l investments, for the well-being of all, in this regard recognizes that access to quality education in humanitarian emergencies can contribute to long-term development goals and reiterates the need to protect and respect educational facilities in accordan ce with international humanitarian law, strongly condemns all attacks directed against schools and the use of schools for military purposes, when in contravention of international humanitarian law, and encourages efforts to promote safe and protective school environments in humanitarian emergencies;

11. Encourages the international community, including Member States, and all relevant stakeholders, including the entities of the United Nations system, international financial institutions, other intergovernmental bodies, regional and national development banks, domestic financial institutions, credit unions, multi-stakeholder partnerships and relevant non-governmental organizations, as appropriate, to further develop financial literacy and financial educatio n programmes that include an emphasis on the impact of finance on sustainable development, as appropriate, in order to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to access financial services, in particular women and girls, farmers and those working in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises;

14. Reaffirms the right to education on the basis of equal opportunity and non-discrimination, and calls upon States to make primary education compulsory, inclusive and available free to all children, ensuring that all children have equal access to education of good quality, making secondary education generally available and accessible to all, in particular through the progressive introduction of free education, bearing in mind that special measures to ensure equal access, including affirmative action, contribute to achieving equal opportunity and combating exclusion by eliminating social, economic and gender disparities in education and ensuring school attendance, in particular for girls, children with disabilities, pregnant adolescent girls, children living in poverty, indigenous children, children of African descent, persons belonging to ethnic or religious minorities and children in vulnerable or marginalized situations;

Recognizing that, despite gains in providing access to quality education, rural girls are still more likely than rural boys to remain excluded from education and that among the gender-specific barriers to girls’ equal enjoyment of their right to education are the feminization of poverty, child labour undertaken by girls, child, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, early and repeat pregnancies, all forms of violence, including gender-based violence, abuse and harassment on the way to and from and at school, in their technology-mediated environment, the lack of safe and adequate sanitation facilities, including for menstrual hygiene management, the disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work performed by girls and gender stereotypes and negative social norms that lead families and communities to place less value on the education of girls than that of boys and may influence the decision of parents to allow girls to attend school,

47. Urges Member States to promote and respect women’s right to education throughout the life course at all levels, especially for those who have been left furthest behind, and eliminate gender disparities in access to all areas of secondary and tertiary education, promote financial literacy and inclusion, digital literacy and entrepreneurship, ensure that women and girls have equal access to career development, training, scholarships and fellowships and adopt positive action to build women’s and girls’ leadership skills and influence, and adopt measures that promote, respect and guarantee the safety of women and girls in the school en vironment and that support women and girls with disabilities at all levels of education and training;

22. Recognizes that promoting full employment and decent work for all also requires investing in education, training and skills development for women and men, and girls and boys, strengthening social protection and health systems and applying international labour standards, and urges States and, as appropriate, the relevant entities of the United Nations system and international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates, as well as civil society, the private sector, employer organizations, trade unions, the media and other relevant actors, to continue to develop and strengthen policies, strategies and programmes to enhance, in particular, the employability of women and youth and to ensure their acce ss to full and productive employment and decent work for all, including by improving access to formal and non-formal education, skills development and vocational training, lifelong learning and retraining and long-distance education, inter alia, in information and communications technology and entrepreneurial skills, particularly in developing countries, including with a view to supporting the economic empowerment of women in the different stages of their lives;

Expressing particular concern that many internally displaced children, in particular girls, lack access to education in all phases of displacement owing to attacks against schools, damaged or destroyed school buildings, insecurity, the prevalence of violence, including gender-based violence, in and around schools, loss of documentation, language barriers and discrimination,

(nn) Supporting a gender-sensitive education system, including through approaches that attract and retain female students and teachers and that consider the specific needs of rural women and girls in order to eliminate gender stereotypes and discriminatory tendencies affecting them, including through community -based dialogue involving women and men and girls and boys;

Acknowledging the importance for achieving sustainable development of delivering quality education to all girls and boys, which will require reaching children living in extreme poverty and rural areas, children with disabilities, migrant and refugee children and those in conflict and post-conflict situations, indigenous people and children in vulnerable situations and providing safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all, and recognizing the importance of scaling up investments and international cooperation to allow all children to complete free, equitable, inclusive and quality early childhood, primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes, including by scaling up and strengthening initiatives, such as the Global Partnership for Education, and by upgrading education facilities that are child-, disability- and gender-sensitive and increasing the percentage of qualified teachers in developing countries, including through international cooperation, especially in the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing States and middle-income countries,

35. Stresses the need for the integration of the rights of children, girls and boys alike, in all policies and programmes and for ensuring the promotion and protection of those rights, especially in areas relating to health, education and the full development of their capacities;

24. Urges all Governments to eliminate discrimination against women and girls in the field of education and to promote and respect their right to education, ensure their safe and equal access to and encourage their participation in education, throughout the life cycle and at all levels, especially for those who have been left furthest behind, and address gender disparities, including by investing in public education systems and infrastructure, eliminating discriminatory laws and practices, providing universal access to inclusive and equitable quality education, including free and compulsory primary and secondary education, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, eliminating female illiteracy and promoting financial and digital literacy, ensuring that women and girls have equal access to career development, training, scholarships and fellowships, adopting positive actions to build women ’s and girls’ leadership skills and influence and supporting women and girls in diversifying their educational and occupational choices in emerging fields, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics and information and communications technology, to strive to ensure the completion of early childhood, primary and secondary education and expand vocational and technical education for all women and girls, and foster, as appropriate, intercultural and multilingual education for all, and to address negative social norms and gender stereotypes in education systems, including in curricula and teaching methodologies, that devalue girls’ education and prevent women and girls from having access to, completing and continuing their education;

43. Encourages States to increase investments and international cooperation to allow all girls and boys to complete free, equitable, inclusive and quality early childhood, primary and secondary education, including by scaling up and strengthening initiatives, such as the Global Partnership for Education, and to explore additional innovative mechanisms based on models combining public and private resources, while ensuring that all education providers give due respect to the right to education;

Welcoming the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015−2024), which urges Member States to promote the social development of people of African descent, particularly women and girls, by eradicating any form of discrimination, ensuring access to quality education and eliminating challenges and specific risks with regard to health,

14. Emphasizes the importance of the participation of women and girls in science, technology and innovation, and further encourages the United Nations development system to support efforts to reduce gender disparity in these areas, with the cooperation of Member States and international collaborative research organizations;

Acknowledging the importance for achieving sustainable development of delivering quality education to all girls and boys, which will require reaching children living in extreme poverty, children with disabilities, migrant and refugee children and those in conflict and post-conflict situations and providing safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all, and recognizing the importance of scaling up investments and international cooperation to allow all children to complete free, equitable, inclusive and quality early childhood, primary and secondary education, including through scaling up and strengthening initiatives, such as the Global Partnership for Education, and by upgrading education facilities that are child-, disability- and gender-sensitive and increasing the percentage of qualified teachers in developing countries, including through international cooperation, especially in the least developed countries and small island develop ing States,

Recognizing that, despite gains in providing access to education, girls are still more likely than boys to remain excluded from education owing to gendered barriers,

Recognizing that education is the key to promoting the develop ment of human potential, equality and understanding among peoples, as well as to sustaining economic growth and eradicating poverty, and recognizing also that, to achieve those ends, it is essential that quality education be available to all, including ind igenous peoples, girls and women, rural inhabitants and persons with disabilities,

Recalling that the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, as set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 6 are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development, and acknowledging the importance of taking measures to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, including expanded opportunities for all children, particularly girls, to access quality education, as well as the need to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels,

44. Urges States to support the efforts of developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to realize progressively the right to education, including the progressive realization of the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl through appropriate resources, including financial and technical resources, in support of country-led national education plans;

Noting with concern that, despite the considerable progress on education access and participation over the past years, 262 million children and youth aged 6 to 17 were still out of school in 2017, more than half of children and adolescents are not meeting minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics and, while rapid technological changes present opportunities and challenges, the learning environment, the capacities of teachers and the quality of education have not kept pace, and refocused efforts are needed to improve learning outcomes for the full life cycle, especially for women, girls and people in vulnerable situations, 1

12. Further encourages Member States to promote digital inclusion and literacy and to consider incorporating digital competencies into the education system, with a special focus on encouraging girls and enhancing digital skills and competences development, including through investment in digital qualification, specialization in digital technologies, digital infrastructure, public policies and institutional development and multi-stakeholder and international collaboration;

(oo) Eliminating gender disparities in the realization of the right to education and ensuring full and equal participation in and completion of inclusive quality education (primary, secondary and tertiary education, including vocational and technical education), as well as early childhood education, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for rural women and girls and the elimination of female illiteracy, including through eliminating the discriminatory policies of excluding pregnant and married girls from schools, quality teacher training, recruitment and retention of teachers in rural areas, especially women teachers where they are underrepresented, and building gender-sensitive education facilities that provide a safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environment for all and facilitate an effective transition from education or unemployment to decent work;

38. Encourages the international community, including Governments, and all relevant stakeholders, including the entities of the United Nations system, international financial institutions, other intergovernmental bodies, regional and national development banks, domestic financial institutions, credit unions, multi - stakeholder partnerships and relevant non-governmental organizations, as appropriate, to further develop financial literacy and financial education programmes that include an emphasis on the impact of finance on sustainable development, as appropriate, in order to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to access financial services and financial products, in particular women and girls, farmers and those working in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises;

32. Calls for actions at the national, regional and international levels that will give high priority to improving and expanding literacy, as well as science proficiency, including by providing tertiary, technical vocational and adult education, and stresses the need to ensure that, by 2030, children everywhere, girls and boys alike, will be able to complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education, leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes;

6. Stresses the need to identify the best practices for ensuring that rural women have access to and full and equal participation in the area of information and communications technology, to address the priorities and needs of rural women and girls as active users of information and to ensure their participation in developing and implementing global, regional and national information and communications technology strategies, taking appropriate educational measures to eliminate gender stereotypes regarding women in the field of technology;

Reaffirming that all workers should have access to lifelong learning and that all learners should acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and the appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development,

65. Encourages efforts to provide safe and enabling learning environments and access to quality education for all, especially for girls and boys, in humanitarian emergencies caused by natural disasters, including in order to contribute to a smoot h transition from relief to development;

12. Calls upon Member States to accelerate efforts to scale up scientifically accurate age-appropriate comprehensive education, relevant to cultural contexts, that provides adolescent girls and boys and young women and men, in and out of school, consistent with their evolving capacities, with information on sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and the empowerment of women, human rights, physical, psychological and pubertal development, and power in relationships between women and men, to enable them to build self-esteem and informed decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills and to develop respectful relationships, in full partnership with young persons, parents, legal guardians, caregivers, educators and health-care providers;

Reaffirming the commitment made in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development,