CRC/C/GC/21 thoughts and suicide, self-medicating with unregulated medicines and exposure to infectious diseases, pollution and traffic accidents. The Committee emphasizes the need for health education and services, including on sexual and reproductive health, tailored to the specific needs of children in street situations. Such education and services should be friendly and supportive, comprehensive, accessible, free, confidential, non-judgmental, non-discriminatory, respectful of autonomous decision by the children, and without the requirement for parental consent. 52 Health services should be made accessible regardless of physical location or social status. Children in street situations should have access to free basic health-care services through universal health coverage and social protection schemes. States should increase the availability of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services for substance abuse, including harm-reduction services, and trauma therapy and mental health services for children in street situations. These services should be staffed by professionals trained on child rights and the particular circumstances of children in street situations. States can promote properly supported peer education that can be especially effective in combating substance abuse, sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Particular attention is needed to protect children in street situations from involvement in the drug trade. F. Education, leisure and cultural activities Article 28 on education 54. Accessible, free, safe, relevant and quality education is crucial to preventing children from ending up in street situations and fulfilling the rights of children already in street situations. For many children, education represents the last connection point with wider societies. States should make adequate provision, including support to parents, caregivers and families, to ensure that children in street situations can stay in school and that their right to quality education is fully protected. A range of education options is necessary, including “second-chance education”, catch-up classes, mobile schools, vocational training linked to market research and followed up with long-term support for income generation, and pathways into formal education, through partnerships with civil society. Teachers should be trained on child rights and children in street situations, and child-centred, participatory teaching methodologies. Article 29 on the aims of education53 55. The aims of education for children in street situations should comply with article 29 and include literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, life skills, child rights education, tolerance for diversity, and citizenship education. Such education is vitally important for the fulfilment of children’s rights to protection, development and participation, including strengthening their autonomy and empowering them to better negotiate situations of risk, to prevent children from ending up in street situations and for those who are in street situations. States should take measures to provide good quality, free child rights education and life skills universally to all children, through the school curriculum and through nonformal and street education, to reach out-of-school children. Article 31 on rest, play and leisure 56. The Committee highlights the right to rest, play, leisure and participation in artistic and cultural activities. Children in street situations apply their own creativity to utilize the informal setting of the streets for play opportunities. 54 States should ensure they are not excluded in a discriminatory way from parks and playgrounds, for example, in relation to dress codes, 55 and adopt measures to assist them in developing their creativity and practising sport, including with mobile recreation and sports facilities. 52 53 54 55 Ibid., paras. 20-21; general comments No. 4, paras. 11 and 26; and No. 15, particularly paras. 8, 11 and 28. General comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of education. General comment No. 17. Ibid., para. 49. 19