CRC/C/THA/CO/3-4 67. The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation that the State party continue to allocate resources for effective poverty reduction measures, particularly in the North, North-East and Southern regions. It further recommends that the State party: (a) Strengthen its efforts to enhance capacity to develop and monitor poverty reduction strategies at the local and community levels, ensuring, in particular, equitable access to basic services such as adequate nutrition, clothing, housing, water and sanitation as well as to social and health services, and education; (b) Adopt temporary special measures and affirmative action to raise the standard of living among its disadvantaged population including the provision of specific earmarked funds and concrete assistance to support children and families disproportionately affected by poverty; (c) Study and consider the feasibility of introducing a universal child allowance scheme to redress disparities and give each child an equal chance of a good start in life. G. Education, leisure and cultural activities (arts. 28, 29 and 31 of the Convention) Education, including vocational training and guidance 68. The Committee commends the State party for having already achieved the MDGs on education, adopting the 15-year free compulsory education for all programme, and initiating policies and measures to enhance early childhood development. However, it regrets that: (a) The number of 3-5 year-old children attending preschool education, especially children of non-Thai speaking or poor households, remains low and severe regional disparities persist with, for example, 78 per cent of young children in the North attending preschool compared with 54 per cent of young children in the South; (b) Over 600,000 children of primary school age 6-11 were not in school in 2010; (c) Low retention and transition rates persist at all levels, with a substantial number of children without secondary education which has only a net enrolment ratio (NER) of 72.2 per cent; (d) provinces; More boys drop out of secondary schools especially in the southern border (e) The use of ethnic and minority languages in the school system from early years is grossly inadequate; (f) Overall quality of education remains poor due, among others, to the shortage of teachers, teaching materials and facilities especially in remote and dangerous areas; (g) Educational outcomes are low as demonstrated in 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in which only 43 per cent of children in Thailand aged 15 years passed in Reading and Science and 53 per cent in Mathematics, with significant disparities between urban and rural areas. 69. In light its general comments Nos. 1 (2001) on the aims of education and 7 (2005) on implementing rights in early childhood, the Committee urges the State party to: 14