A/HRC/35/24/Add.1 Rapporteur visited the Girasol public nursery school in Antofagasta and witnessed the sound structure of the building, the recreational areas and the classrooms for all children, and the fact that there were specialized teachers to take care of children with special needs. B. Realization of the right to quality education 63. The poor quality of public education continues to result in high levels of segregation and discrimination along socioeconomic lines. Chile needs to take all measures necessary to eliminate the sharp disparities in quality of education that currently exist between private, subsidized and public schools and to ensure that all schools have adequate infrastructure and suitably trained teaching staff (see E/C.12/CHL/CO/4, para. 30 (b)). 64. Privatization in education has thrived on false propaganda, leading to the belief that for-profit private education is of better quality than public education. The findings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have dispelled such misconceptions. Despite their claims, some private schools have poor buildings and the use of short-term contracts and young lower-cost teachers damages the teaching profession. Such schools are not a model for a modern country like Chile. 65. The Special Rapporteur recognizes the importance of the bill on the national public education system, which seems promising in terms of the provision of quality education to enable students to access learning opportunities for comprehensive development. 66. The Government has taken a series of institutional measures in order to implement Act No. 20.529 of 2011 establishing the national system to ensure the quality of and to supervise preschool, basic and intermediate education, and some provisions of the 2009 General Education Act. They include the creation of the National Education Council to assess preschool, primary and secondary school curricula; the establishment of the Quality Education Agency to assess students’ learning achievements and evaluate schools’ results by conducting investigations and publishing reports on themes such as the relationship between the socioeconomic status of the family, or students’ gender, and academic success; and the establishment of the Office of the Superintendent of Education to ensure that schools have the necessary elements to guarantee quality education, as provided by the law.14 67. The Special Rapporteur was briefed about the system to ensure the quality of education. 15 It evaluates the education system on subjects such as language and communication (comprehension in reading and writing), mathematics, natural sciences, history, geography and social science. The Government is currently redesigning evaluations to better reflect the principles embedded in the education reform such as creativity, social inclusion, problem-solving and teamwork. The Special Rapporteur also learned that, in order to improve the quality of public education, a strategic school infrastructure plan has been put in place; an action plan was designed in 2015 for the system to ensure the quality of education and equity at all levels; and a new national assessment plan for 2016-2020 was approved as part of the national evaluation system. 68. The aims of education as laid down in international human rights instruments are an essential element in the drive towards quality, and the importance attached to human rights values in education in Chile is a laudable feature of the reforms. The aims of education are reflected in the Inclusive Education Act, which stipulates that the education system should be directed towards the full development of the human personality. The bill on the national public education system is aimed at promoting the knowledge, understanding and commitment of students and their human rights and contains provisions on enhancing their full development in the spiritual, ethical, moral, emotional, intellectual, artistic and physical sphere. It thus enriches the aims of education. Fostering common human rights values pursuant to Act No. 20.911 establishing the Civic Education Plan is indispensable today in order to counter the trend towards the pursuit of material values and the mere instrumental 14 15 12 See www.leychile.cl/Navegar?idNorma=1028635. See www.simce.cl.