A/HRC/35/11 textbooks and dissemination of information on gender equality. Schools on Brunei Darussalam provided platforms for girls to participate in extracurricular activities. 34. States have an obligation to periodically review and revise curricula, textbooks, programmes and teaching methods to ensure that they do not perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes. 38 States should ensure that human rights education, including on gender equality and non-discrimination, is part of the core curricula, that teachers are systematically trained on gender equality and that girls and boys are encouraged to select non-traditional fields of study, including through academic counselling. 39 35. Girls’ equal enjoyment of the right to education also involves sensitivity to differences in skills, knowledge and language competencies, the presence of qualified female teachers, who can be role models, and the existence of student clubs and mentorship programmes.40 States should ensure a gender balance among teaching staff and in school administrations, including at the senior levels, and the curricula in gender-segregated schools should be the same for girls and boys,41 so that girls can enjoy the same courses and activities, including sports as boys.42 36. Comprehensive sexuality education is often biased, censored, narrowed to biology, age restricted, subject to third party authorization or even excluded from the school curriculum. However, access to comprehensive sexuality education, defined as an “ageappropriate, culturally relevant approach to teaching about sexuality and relationships by providing scientifically accurate, realistic, non-judgmental information”,43 will ensure that girls and boys can make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. It is key for the empowerment of every girl and for combating harmful practices, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Many States, including Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, France, Mexico and Nicaragua, recognized the importance of comprehensive sexuality education. 37. International human rights mechanisms have clearly established that everyone has a right to education on sexuality and reproduction that is comprehensive, non-discriminatory, non-biased, evidence-based and scientifically accurate and takes into account the evolving capacities of children and adolescents.44 In the context of ensuring the equal right of girls to quality education, States are obligated to provide education on sexual and reproductive health, ensure that it is part of the mandatory school curriculum and delivered through a holistic approach that is gender- and disability-sensitive and promotes women’s rights and gender equality.45 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 8 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 10; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 13 (1999), paras. 50 and 55; Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of education, para. 10; CEDAW/C/AFG/CO/1-2, para. 33. Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No.1 (2001), paras. 2-3; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation 34 (2016), para. 43; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment 16 (2005), para. 30; General Assembly resolution 66/137. See submissions from Alice Saisha and Defence for Children International; UNESCO, From Access to Equality: Empowering Girls and Women through Literacy and Secondary Education, 2nd ed. (2012), p. 33. See CEDAW/C/GEO/CO/4-5, para. 27 (d). Plan International, Girls’ Learning: Investigating the classroom practices that promote girls’ learning (January 2013). Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 10 (b) and (g); A/HRC/32/33, paras. 5, 29, 34 and 101 (e). UNESCO and others, International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, vol. 1: the rationale for sexuality education (December 2009). Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 24 (2) (f); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art.12 (2); Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 22 (2016), paras. 9 and 49 (f); A/65/162, para. 75. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 22 (2016) on the right to sexual and reproductive health, para. 47; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendations No. 24 (1999) on women and health, para. 18; Committee on the