A/HRC/26/27 approach of performance evaluation only of mathematical literacy and language skills, and which broadens the assessment of the educational attainments of students to include all obligations relating to the right to education under international human rights law. A. Human rights standards in education 24. States have the primary responsibility for ensuring that their national education systems meet the objectives assigned to education in international human rights treaties. Beginning with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, schools must provide education which is respectful of human rights values, democratic citizenship and cultural diversity. According to the principles contained in article 29 (1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the education of the child shall be directed to “the development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own.” The education to which every child has a right is one which is “designed to provide the child with life skills, to strengthen the child’s capacity to enjoy the full range of human rights and to promote a culture which is infused by appropriate human rights values.”2 Yet, as the Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated, national and international programmes and policies on education that really count the elements embodied in article 29 (1) seem all too often to be either largely missing or present only as a cosmetic afterthought.3 25. In this respect, it is important to recall that the UNESCO constitution assigns to education the mission of promoting the “ideals of humanity” and fostering the “intellectual and moral solidarity” of humankind. Both UNESCO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have the institutional mission of preparing children for the responsibility of the future and these ideals should constitute the bedrock of national curricula. Moreover, education should be designed and provided in such a way that it “promotes and reinforces the range of specific ethical values” enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.4 The need for “new ethics for our common humanity”5 has been voiced in propositions for planning for the post-2015 development agenda. This should find a prominent place in reflections on modernizing the curriculum for assessing the educational attainments of students accordingly, as an integral part of the humanistic mission of education. 26. The primary objective of national assessment systems is to appraise the educational attainments of students through the entire national education system. This should be driven by a human rights-based approach and the humanistic mission of education, rather than by its mere instrumental role, and by preserving and fostering the noble cause of education. The values and principles propounded by the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training6 “as a means to give full effect to the right to education worldwide”7 must be publicized in order to make them an integral part of the educational 2 3 4 5 6 7 6 General comment No. 1 (2001) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the aims of education, para. 2. Ibid., para. 3. Ibid., para. 13. “A new global partnership: eradicate poverty and transform economies through sustainable development”, report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (2013). Human Rights council resolution 16/1, annex. Human Rights Council resolution 23/4, para. 5.