A/HRC/4/29 page 21 72. The Special Rapporteur also notes that, in many cases, mechanisms aimed at ensuring equal access to education of children and young people with disabilities, as well as many inclusion measures promoted at the national or local level by government authorities, are usually restricted to infrastructure projects designed to facilitate the physical access and mobility of persons with motor, visual or hearing disabilities in schools. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that accessibility is a condition and not the final aim of inclusion, and that education based on the best interests of children and on their relations with others must always be the central pedagogical approach. The responses to the questionnaire reflect this overemphasis on physical accessibility, even though there does not appear to be the same concern, in a large number of the cases analysed, for the inclusion of students with disabilities in all other aspects of school activity, including essential areas of learning. 73. Public transport for persons with disabilities is free of charge in many of the countries surveyed. However, very few countries provide school transport services that are free of charge and adapted to the needs of such persons. Regional differences 74. The Special Rapporteur notes a marked disparity between rich countries and poor countries with regard to the conditions in which persons with disabilities are educated in schools. In European countries, there is a strong trend towards inclusive education, and there are many programmes that provide support and financial assistance to families; special materials are paid for by the State. In Latin America and in many regions of Asia and Africa, programmes aimed at ensuring effective conditions for the education of persons with disabilities have very limited resources and provide negligible financial assistance to families. 75. The inadequacy or non-existence of health centres in peripheral and rural areas greatly complicates life for persons with disabilities. In some countries, particularly in Latin America and Africa, poverty and rurality usually go hand in hand, exacerbating the prejudices to which these persons are subjected. Multiple discrimination 76. Numerous factors combine with disability to exacerbate the discriminatory and exclusionary effects noted in many education systems. Belonging to certain identity and social groups (such as nomadic tribes, persons of African descent, Dalits, Roma or indigenous peoples), social conditions and gender (girls and women with disabilities are subjected to more discrimination than boys or men with the same conditions) are factors that make life even more difficult. 77. There are extremely few educational policies and special facilities for children and young people with multiple disabilities. 78. Opinions are divided as to whether or not education contributes to the empowerment of learners with disabilities. Those who claim that education processes make an effective contribution to empowering persons with disabilities and improving their living conditions cite the learning of daily life skills and integration into the labour market. Those who claim that this contribution is preliminary or limited argue that the attainment of practical skills and academic