A/HRC/26/27 mathematical literacy and language skills. The Special Rapporteur considers that such a narrow approach is detrimental to the humanistic mission of education and undermines the essential objectives assigned to education in international human rights conventions. International assessments also affect national assessment systems, thus perpetuating such a narrow approach. A paradigm shift is necessary to make assessment systems more broadly based so that they embody in full measure the essential objectives of the right to education, in accordance with human rights law, and are premised upon a human rights-based holistic approach. 81. In that spirit, the national assessment systems of the educational attainments of students in basic education need to be revamped and developed so as to demonstrate that every child completes at least a primary education of good quality, in line with the core obligation of States, and is given access to good quality secondary education, with technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as an integral component. Assessment mechanisms for TVET-led skills development deserve greater consideration in evaluating how TVET programmes empower their beneficiaries to acquire the necessary competencies and skills which respond to a the development requirements of a country, while also recognizing the importance of a human rights perspective. 82. Teachers are vital to the implementation of the national curricula and in conducting assessments of the educational attainments of students. Teacher training programmes need to be reinforced to enhance not just the pedagogical capacities of teachers, but also their ability to assess the educational attainments of students. 83. It is also important to initiate a public debate on the educational attainments of students and to foster education systems which embody the spirit of human values and human dignity. Education must not lead students merely to be immersed in materialistic values and pursuits in life, devoid of the values of human rights and of solidarity and mutual understanding and respect for each other’s culture. It must also prepare children for the responsibilities of freedom in keeping with the institutional mandates of UNESCO and UNICEF. The intellectual community, civil society organizations and particularly parliamentarians, as lawmakers and public figures, can make a significant contribution in this respect. 84. The work of the human rights treaty bodies and the United Nations agencies can be valuable in raising the importance of national assessments of the educational attainments of students that encompass a human rights-based approach to education. 85. The Special Rapporteur would like to state that the realization of the right to basic education of quality for all, including skills development, deserves a central place in the post-2015 development agenda. From that perspective, national assessments of the educational attainments of students would need to evolve with a future-oriented perspective, in order to meet the key challenges of achieving such universal goals for education as may be agreed to in future development agendas. Education systems, including national assessments, will need to be kept abreast of such developments, bearing in mind the resolve of the international community in reaffirming its commitments to the right to education and to “full access to quality education at all levels” as an “essential condition for achieving sustainable development”.35 35 18 See General Assembly resolution 66/288, annex, paras. 229 and 233.