A/HRC/32/37 Internet. People in urban areas receive access of better quality first, leaving those in remote areas disadvantaged or cut off. Reliable access to electricity to charge devices is often a problem in the developing world. 40. Information and communications technologies can result in educational deprivation, particularly for the poor. Special attention must be paid to questions related to access and skills for the most marginalized groups, including girls and women and persons with disabilities. The guiding principle must be to adopt an all-inclusive approach.16 41. Provision of education through digital technology may also contribute to gender disparities. Currently, in developing countries, males are far more likely than females to own and use information and communications technologies. In low-to-middle-income countries, 25 per cent fewer women than men have Internet connectivity, and this gap rises to nearly 50 per cent in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.17 42. Children with disabilities face several barriers in accessing information and communications technologies, as they may need adaptive technologies to use computers, tablets and mobile telephones. Moreover, online digital content may need to be converted into another format. Children in developing countries who do not attend schools rarely have access to computers. 43. The signatories to the declaration 18 adopted at the International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies and Post-2015 Education, held in Qingdao, China, affirmed their collective understanding of how to unleash the full potential of information and communications technologies for education and for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. They also reaffirmed their commitment to the Incheon Declaration and the Education 2030 framework for action and to the use of technology to strengthen access to and inclusion in education. V. Digital technologies and norms and principles of the right to education 44. The application of technology to education must always be conducted in conformity with the right to education. It is important to ensure that the principles and norms of the right to education are preserved when using information and communications technologies. Universal access is an essential prerequisite for the full exercise of the right to education. Under a number of international conventions establishing the right to education, States have international obligations to provide primary education at no cost. They also have the obligation to make secondary education, including technical and vocational education, generally accessible; higher education should be made accessible, on the basis of merit or capacity. Education at all levels must be made, progressively, accessible to all. 45. The Special Rapporteur recalls that, as equality of opportunity in education is a principle underlying all human rights conventions, it must be respected. The framework for action for the implementation of the Incheon Declaration contains a commitment by 16 17 18 Statement endorsed by participants in the special session of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development held in Davos, Switzerland, on January 2016. Available from www.broadbandcommission.org/Documents/publications/davos-statement-jan2016-en.pdf. Bridging the Gender Gap: Mobile Access and Usage in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (2015). Available from www.gsma.com/connectedwomen/wpcontent/uploads/2015/04/GSM0001_03232015_GSMAReport_Executive-Summary_NEWGRAYSweb.pdf. See http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002333/233352E.pdf. 9