A/HRC/38/32/Add.1 102. The activities of the clubs for mothers of girl pupils must also be encouraged, supported financially and leveraged as part of an overall process in order to enable them to carry out their work to improve student performance and access to education, especially for girls. Improving technical education and vocational training 103. The perception of some teachers, students and parents that technical education and vocational training are a last resort should be altered. Technical education and vocational training should be made more attractive and should be viewed by the professional world as a system that produces the skilled workers that the Ivorian economy needs. Technical training institutions should not be treated as separate establishments but rather as an integral part of the youth education system in Côte d’Ivoire. 104. Technical education and vocational training should be promoted through awareness-raising for parents, children and the community. Interest in technical and vocational training in Côte d’Ivoire must be encouraged from primary school onward. The Special Rapporteur also recommends that a partnership be established with careers guidance services and universities to draw attention to the opportunities that may be offered by professional training and to encourage support for secondary and primary school leavers who would like to follow this path. The trend towards general education should be reversed in favour of education that is more technical and vocational in nature. 105. Recognizing that those leaving the technical and vocational education system have a major impact on the country’s economic development, the Government should increase funding to secondary and post-secondary technical and vocational education establishments. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to continue exploring a wide range of funding mechanisms for this sector with private partners and States, in collaboration with universities in particular. 106. Stronger partnerships with industries are needed to ensure that graduates have the necessary skills to find work following graduation. There is also a need to organize action-oriented research and innovation for the sustainable development of these industries. 107. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government ensure coherence between the training system and the strategies and measures implemented by the ministries responsible for education, training and scientific research. In this regard, the establishment of a sectoral task force is strongly encouraged. 108. The ministries responsible for primary and secondary education and vocational training and the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection must work together effectively to ensure that young people who choose this path are able to enter the labour market. Funding for education 109. The Government is to be commended for having devoted more than 20 per cent of its budget to basic education. This demonstrates a real commitment to improving the accessibility and quality of education. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government also increase the budget for vocational training and job creation for young people and women, as well as the budget for preschool education and literacy. 110. Given that more than 40 per cent of the country’s population is illiterate, the majority women and girls, it would be advisable to set up a decentralized, autonomous fund to support literacy activities throughout national territory in order to ensure adequate funding for the construction of decent premises, the provision of suitable teaching material, and the salaries of facilitators and supervisors working in literacy and non-formal education centres. 16 GE.18-06824