CRC/C/SLV/CO/3-4 (d) Intensify its efforts to provide a safer, more secure and non-violent environment, which is the basis of an adequate standard of living for children. 7. Education, leisure and cultural activities (arts. 28, 29 and 31 of the Convention) Education, including vocational training and guidance 68. The Committee welcomes the reform of the General Law on Education (2004) as well as the Opportunities Programme and the National Plan of Education 2021. It also notes the forthcoming launch of an early childhood policy. However, the Committee is concerned at: (a) The decrease in the budget allocated to education since 2002; (b) The current lack of a comprehensive early childhood care and education policy and programme, and the limited coverage of preschools; (c) The low level of attendance of adolescents in secondary education which cover only 50 per cent of adolescents, and increases the risk, inter alia, of them being recruited by youth gangs “maras”; (d) The substantial discrepancy in the access to education between urban and rural areas as well as between girls and boys; (e) The persistence of illiteracy; (f) The high number of young girls and boys who drop out of school due to teenage pregnancy, child labour or reasons related to economic migration. 69. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Increase budgets allocated to education, including for the achievement of higher levels of coverage in preschool; (b) Develop and implement a comprehensive national early childhood care and education policy, including at the community level, as a holistic approach to early childhood development is a fundamental step of the whole education cycle; (c) Make greater efforts in providing families with better availability of free care centres to look after their children; (d) Increase access and quality of secondary education as a fundamental safeguard to guarantee equal opportunities and prevent recruitment in youth gangs; (e) Provide more accurate data on access to education, especially with gender, age and geographic indicators; (f) Ratify the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education of 1960. Rest, leisure, recreation and cultural activities 70. The Committee regrets that the cultural and recreational activities for children and adolescents are limited in El Salvador. The Committee is concerned in particular at the lack of safe public spaces at community level for cultural, leisure and recreational activities for children and adolescents, in particular in the city of San Salvador, as this is one of the most important preventive measures to avoid the recruitment of children and adolescents by the “maras” and criminal organizations. 17