A/HRC/30/23 discrimination against girls both in and around schools, harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child, early and forced child marriage, the militarization of school premises in situations of conflict, attacks against schools, and threats to the security and safety of female students. A number of speakers referred to the Safe Schools Declaration, which focuses on education for children in conflict situations, signed to date by 47 States. 16. Several speakers highlighted the importance of a continued focus on education in the post-2015 development framework as a means to ensure gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Speakers referred to the need for good practices in the areas of comprehensive sexuality education, education for girls in conflict settings, addressing gender-based violence in and around schools, and the contents of education and its role in gender stereotypes. Participants urged the Human Rights Council to prioritize school-related gender-based violence in its agenda. Several States referred to the importance of international cooperation to make schools safer, to empower women and to obtain the necessary budgetary resources. III. Concluding remarks by the panellists 17. The panellists highlighted the importance of adopting and enforcing legislation and other polices on education in accordance with international human rights standards and on the basis of the principle of the best interests of the child. 18. It was agreed that the provision of such basic services as separate sanitation facilities and hygiene kits had enormous benefits in the enrolment and retention of girls in schools. In addition, including comprehensive sexuality education in school curricula was highlighted as a key action to help girls to avoid early pregnancy and in order to address harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage. 19. The panellists recommended that quality primary education should be compulsory and free, and highlighted the importance of the transition to secondary education. They referred to the importance of measures to prevent child and forced marriages, including of setting the minimum legal age for marriage at 18. Appropriate institutional frameworks that prioritized education in budgetary allocations, supported early childhood education, provided a safe and supportive environment in schools and integrated a gender perspective into education policies were also highlighted as necessary. They also stressed that education should be nondiscriminatory, inclusive and culturally sensitive, and that education policies should incorporate the voices of children and young people, including marginalized and disadvantaged girls, such as girls with disabilities, and rural and poor girls, and harness the power of social media as a means of changing education policies and encouraging girls to stay in school. 20. The panellists also noted that education outcomes for girls were closely linked to the division of labour between the sexes, gender stereotypes and gender-based discrimination, violence and abuse, and that many women and girls were therefore unable to enjoy the multiplier effect of education. Most current education systems, it was noted, failed to live up to their potential as catalysts for equality between men and women, but rather strengthened the existing gender order and helped to maintain hierarchies within schools and in the wider community. It was therefore important to review the content of education so as to remove all discriminatory elements. 21. In Ethiopia, girl clubs, in which girls at the local level were involved in mitigating school- and community-based barriers to education by liaising with school management and parents to advocate for changes such as separate sanitation facilities, 5