A/HRC/42/38/Add.1 notes positively that budgetary appropriations for education during the period 2010 to 2015 were between 13.2 and 16.4 per cent of the State budget and that the literacy rates have been increasing every year. He notes that the State recognizes its responsibility to guarantee free, compulsory and universal education, and that it provides such education up to the eighth grade. At the time of the visit the possibility of extending tuition-free education to secondary school (ninth to twelfth grade) was under discussion. Household expenses for the schooling of children include uniforms, school materials and examination fees. Schoolbooks are subsidized and purchased by families at a low price. The Special Rapporteur was informed that a programme entitled “Access to Education” was established to help ensure access to education services for people living in situations of poverty and social vulnerability, especially children and adolescents, whose families do not have the means to support education costs. He welcomes the possibility of extending tuition-free education up to the twelfth grade. 37. In 2017 the Cabinet of Ministers approved Decree-Law No. 47/2017, which provides measures for social and educational support to students during pregnancy, after childbirth and while they are breastfeeding. These measures are aimed at ensuring continued access to education for pregnant girls at all educational levels (basic, secondary, professional training and higher education). 27 The Special Rapporteur welcomes the measures, noting that they can contribute to ensuring that pregnant girls under the age of 18 in educational facilities are not encouraged to interrupt their studies or to leave school. E. Social protection system 38. One of the indicators for combating poverty and reducing inequality under the Sustainable Development Goals is the percentage of the eligible population covered by national social protection programmes. The Special Rapporteur considers social protection systems to be of particular importance in ensuring the implementation of the right to development, in accordance with article 2 (3) of the Declaration on the Right to Development, under which States have the right and the duty to formulate appropriate national development policies that aim at the constant improvement of the well-being of the entire population and of all individuals. 39. In Cabo Verde there are several initiatives relevant to ensuring social protection. The Special Rapporteur was informed of the creation of the single social registry, which is intended to serve as a permanent instrument for mapping vulnerable families and for monitoring the situation of families, and as the only reference for, among other things, social transfers, the social pension, the social inclusion income, social rates for water and energy, and health services. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the establishment of the registry and believes that once registration is completed, the registry will be an extremely useful tool in providing social protection to the ones left furthest behind in the society. 40. The Special Rapporteur also learned of the creation of the access to income programme, comprising the social inclusion income and the social pension. The social inclusion income is a direct monetary transfer to people and is aimed at families with children under the age of 15 living in extreme poverty, where the heads of household belong to the active population but are not engaged in an income-generating economic activity. 41. The social security system in Cabo Verde covers more than 227,000 people; about 206,000 of those are covered through the contributory subsystem, and about 21,000 through the non-contributory subsystem (social pension, intended for people aged 60 or over with an annual income below the poverty threshold, who do not benefit from any other social security plans). The contributory system covers close to 40 per cent of the population. 28 42. A major development in social security is the introduction of unemployment benefits, (Decree-Law No. 15/2015). Unemployment benefits started as of 1 May 2017 and 27 28 10 Ibid., para. 38. Ibid., para. 108.