A/HRC/4/29 page 22 knowledge does not improve the performance of such persons in other spheres of social life. It should be noted that the term “empowerment” is not used uniformly, and has different meanings and characteristics in each of the responses. Participation 79. In most countries, neither persons with disabilities nor their relatives or representatives take part in designing specific education programmes and curriculum guidelines, or else, their participation is essentially reduced to orientation courses or to collective learning or recreational activities. There are virtually no specific measures aimed at ensuring this type of intervention. In African countries, however, the need to involve the community in decisions on education is starting to gain importance. In some regions of Latin America, parents are made aware of the importance of their cooperation in developing pedagogical proposals in regular schools, and some European countries are carrying out programmes and policies that call for the active participation of parents in decision-making concerning the education of their children, as is the case in Finland. In that country, parents’ participation in special education is obligatory, and they freely choose where to educate their children, without any additional cost. Moreover, in its report A6-0351/2006 of 13 October 2006 on the situation of people with disabilities in the enlarged European Union, the European Parliament stresses the need to encourage initiatives to develop greater interaction between the public and the mentally disabled, and to de-stigmatize people with mental health problems, and appeals for the necessary support for the families of people with a profound disability. 80. The right of parents of persons with disabilities to choose the most appropriate education for their children appears to be recognized in some countries, in legislative frameworks that regulate education systems. However, the effective exercise of this right is conditioned by a set of factors that often make its full enjoyment impossible. VII. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 81. The existing human rights legal and programmatic frameworks clearly recognize inclusive education as an indispensable element of the right to education for persons with disability. Inclusive education, in short, seeks to avoid the exclusion of all learners, including learners with disabilities, from education. By definition, the exclusion of learners from education - particularly primary and secondary - indicates a breach of the right to education. 82. At the same time, implementing inclusive education also raises challenges in practice. The provision of adequate and sustainable resources, ensuring an accessible and accommodating learning environment, changing traditional or discriminatory attitudes towards persons with disabilities, helping teachers, school administrators, families and communities understand and participate in decisions and processes related to inclusive education and, most significantly, ensuring that the special education needs of learners with disabilities are met within the general education system are all important challenges to inclusive education. When these challenges are put in the context of the existing strains on schools and communities, they should not be underestimated.