E/C.12/MKD/CO/1 Page 7 45. The Committee recommends that the State party increase the number of mandatory visits of patronage nurses per child, incorporate a family nursing approach in its national health strategy, and allocate sufficient funds towards the implementation of the national preventive programme on mother and child health. 46. The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to educate children and adolescents on sexual and reproductive health and to enhance the accessibility of sexual and reproductive health services, including gynaecological and counselling services, in particular in rural areas and in communities where Roma and other disadvantaged and marginalized individuals or groups live. 47. The Committee urges the State party to ensure free primary education for all children and gradually reduce the costs of secondary education, e.g. through subsidies for textbooks, school kits and aids, and increased scholarships, in particular for disadvantaged and marginalized children, in accordance with the Committee’s general comment No. 13 (1999) on the right to education (art. 13); promote universal school attendance through intensified awareness-raising campaigns for parents on the importance of education and their obligation to send their children, including girls, to school and catch-up classes and other special programmes to address the specific needs of less performing pupils; and conduct literacy campaigns for adults. 48. The Committee recommends that the State party end the practice of segregating Roma and other minority and refugee children in separate schools; ensure, to the extent possible, adequate opportunities for minority children to receive instruction in their native languages by effectively monitoring the quality of minority language instruction; providing textbooks and increasing the number of teachers instructing in minority languages; and intensify its efforts to promote respect for the cultural values of ethnic communities and the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, in order to enhance understanding, tolerance and mutual respect among the different ethnic groups in the State party. 49. The Committee requests the State party to disseminate the present concluding observations widely among all levels of society, particularly among government officials and judicial authorities, and to inform the Committee on all steps taken to implement them in its next periodic report. It also encourages the State party to engage non-governmental organizations and other members of civil society in the process of discussion at the national level prior to the submission of its next periodic report. 50. The Committee invites the State party to update its core document in accordance with the 2006 harmonized guidelines on reporting under the international human rights treaties. 51. Finally, the Committee requests the State party to submit its combined second to fourth periodic reports by 30 June 2008. -----