A/HRC/34/15 G. Right to education 47. According to article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to education;16 education should be directed to the full development of the human personality and the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; it should promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. The Declaration also provides that parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that is given to their children. 48. Universities in the northern part of the island are not recognized by the Republic of Cyprus, and Turkish Cypriot students still face limited access to European Union exchange and educational programmes. Under European Union Council Regulation (EC) No. 389/2006, the European Commission established a scholarship scheme for the Turkish Cypriot community in order to address this lack of mobility. The scheme allows Turkish Cypriot students and professionals to spend up to one academic year abroad at a university or other host institution in the European Union, and has included host institutions on the southern part of the island since 2013. The purpose is both to ensure academic attainment and to bring Turkish Cypriots closer to the culture and values of the European Union. For the 2015-16 academic year, 125 participants were granted scholarships, including undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and professionals. Considerable attention was paid to informing students about opportunities outside the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as developing an alumni network and monitoring medium-term impact, for example the return rate of students to Cyprus and success in finding employment.17 49. UNFICYP provided logistical support to and visited the Greek Cypriot primary and secondary schools on the Karpas Peninsula. It noted that the Turkish Cypriot authorities continued to review all textbooks used for teaching in the Rizokarpaso elementary and secondary schools, and had rejected 6 out of 124 textbooks used. There were no developments regarding the establishment of a Turkish language school in Limassol, although Turkish-speaking pupils in the area continued to have access to Turkish language classes at a high school and a primary school (S/2016/598, para. 17). 50. The bicommunal Technical Committee on Education, established in November 2015, has continued to meet and to work on various initiatives, including an open day held on 2 June 2016 to mark the International Children’s Day, which brought together more than 100 school children from across the divide and was attended by the leaders. The Committee reviews existing research and good practices in education in Cyprus and abroad, undertakes new relevant research on how education might contribute to peace and reconciliation, works on devising a mutually acceptable mechanism for the implementation of confidencebuilding measures in schools and promotes contact and cooperation between students and educators from the two communities (see S/2016/15, para. 13). It also recommends best policy options and courses of action to allow for the coordination of the two educational systems, thereby contributing to a viable, sustainable and functional bicommunal and bizonal federation. 16 17 See also the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, arts. 13 and 14, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 28 and 29. Tenth Annual Report 2015 on the implementation of Community assistance under Council Regulation (EC) No. 389/2006 of 27 February 2006 establishing an instrument of financial support for encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community, Brussels, 4 August 2016. 13