CRPD/C/GC/4 the right to education is a matter of access as well as content, and efforts should be directed at upholding a wide range of values, including understanding and tolerance. 6 Inclusive education must aim at promoting mutual respect and value for all persons and at building educational environments in which the approach to learning, the culture of the educational institution and the curriculum itself reflect the value of diversity. 16. For article 24 (1) (b) to be implemented, education should be directed to the development of the personality, talents and creativity of persons with disabilities, as well as of their mental, physical and communicational abilities, to their fullest potential. The education of persons with disabilities too often focuses on a deficit approach, on their actual or perceived impairment and on limiting opportunities to pre-defined and negative assumptions of their potential. States parties must support the creation of opportunities to build on the unique strengths and talents of each individual with a disability. 17. For article 24 (1) (c) to be realized, the aims of education must be directed at enabling persons with disabilities to participate fully and effectively in a free society. Recalling article 23 (3) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Committee stresses that, regarding children with disabilities, assistance must be provided to ensure that they have effective access to education in a manner conducive to achieving their fullest possible social integration and individual development. States parties must recognize that individual support and reasonable accommodation are priority matters and should be free of charge at all compulsory levels of education. 18. For article 24 (2) (a) to be implemented, the exclusion of persons with disabilities from the general education system should be prohibited, including through any legislative or regulatory provisions that limit their inclusion on the basis of their impairment or the degree of that impairment, such as by conditioning inclusion on the extent of the potential of the individual or by alleging a disproportionate and undue burden to evade the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation. General education means all regular learning environments and the education department. Direct exclusion would be to classify certain students as “non-educable” and thereby ineligible for access to education. Indirect exclusion would be imposing a requirement to pass a common test as a condition for school entry without reasonable accommodations and support. 19. For article 4 (1) (b) of the Convention to be implemented, States parties should take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities and that are in violation of article 24. Where necessary, discriminatory laws, regulations, customs and practices should be repealed or amended in a systematic and timebound manner. 20. For article 24 (2) (b) to be realized, persons with disabilities must have access to inclusive, quality and free primary and secondary education and be able to transition smoothly between the two on an equal basis with others in the communities where they live. The Committee draws on the recommendation of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that, to fulfil that obligation, the education system must comprise four interrelated features: availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability.7 Availability 21. Public and private educational institutions and programmes must be available in sufficient quantity and quality. States parties must guarantee a broad availability of educational places for learners with disabilities at all levels throughout the community. 6 7 6 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of education. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 13.