A/HRC/20/21 individual empowerment. Thus, considerations on the quality of education should be central to reflections on the steps to be taken in the post-EFA phase, with a focus on innovative and equitable education systems. In this process, a holistic conceptual framework for quality, already outlined, must be embraced. 88. Widespread concerns on quality in education call for strengthening national legal frameworks with a view to establishing and reinforcing standards for quality in education. To that end, the Special Rapporteur would like to make the following recommendations: (a) education: Develop and strengthen national legal and policy frameworks for quality • States have the primary obligation to ensure the right to quality education. As such, they should accord high priority to the development and strengthening of education laws and policies aimed at ensuring quality education for all, paying foremost attention to the empowering role of the right to education; • States should ensure that all public authorities responsible for designing and implementing education policies at local and national levels conform to quality norms and standards; • National human rights institutions, where they exist, as well as the judiciary, are vital to monitoring initiatives in this regard and to safeguarding the quality of education; • Parliamentarians also play an important role in promoting national debates on quality in education, developing legal frameworks and monitoring State practices; (b) Adopt norms and standards for quality for the entire education system: • States must ensure that norms and standards for quality education are uniformly applied in the country and cover the entire education system. No field or discipline of education should be neglected in this process. It should be ensured that norms are in line with human rights principles and that all schools, whether public or private, function in conformity with such norms and standards; (c) Implement quality assessments with a promotional spirit: • Quality assessments should be driven by a promotional spirit, with emphasis on creating equitable educational and learning opportunities for all, rather than further marginalizing poorly endowed schools in remote areas. Based on the findings of national-level assessments of students’ performance, States should support those regions and schools which perform poorly and are falling behind, in an endeavor to promote more equitable education systems. Affirmative action and positive measures should be stepped up to enable all those who are victims of social exclusion and poverty to enjoy their right to quality education; (d) Improve teacher’s qualification and working conditions: • States should develop a comprehensive normative framework for the teaching profession, applicable to both public and private schools. In recognition of teachers’ key role in providing quality education, this should contain norms for the qualification of teachers, their status and 21