CEDAW/C/GC/36 (d) Institute policy initiatives, including social protection programmes, school feeding initiatives and the provision of sanitary protection materials to increase school attendance, in particular in rural and remote areas; (e) Provide hostels and transportation for girls where the distance between home and school inhibits access to education and ensure that girls in such facilities are protected from sexual and other forms of abuse; (f) Train teachers to provide a supportive environment and culture that allows pubescent girls to participate confidently in learning, without fear, shame or risk. Technological accessibility 33. Where financing is limited, an alternative to providing physical access to educational facilities is through the use of information and communications technologies in distance and open learning settings. Such approaches provide distinct benefits for girls and women with limited access to conventional forms of education and training, including those who are excluded owing to distance from school in rural areas, domestic work and parental responsibilities, in particular in cases of child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, and on the basis of other social and cultural barriers. Women who want to pursue advanced education while combining work and domestic responsibilities also benefit from those possibilities. 34. Other distinct benefits that can be derived from the use of open learning technologies are the development of new patterns of teaching and learning, the fostering of a new learning culture, increased flexibility fo r adult learners, opportunities for employers to provide cost-effective professional development on the job and opportunities for Governments to increase the cost -effectiveness of and capacity for education and training. 35. The Committee recommends that States parties take the following measures where opportunities for girls and women to gain access to education through distance and open learning do not exist: (a) Examine the feasibility of introducing access, at the upper secondary and tertiary levels, by setting up facilities to provide certification through the pursuit of open learning opportunities; (b) Upgrade teachers’ knowledge and competence in the use of information and communications technologies and provide training in the skills required to operate in an open learning environment; (c) Ensure that girls and women belonging to disadvantaged groups, those from rural communities and those with low levels of literacy are not excluded from such opportunities owing to a lack of access to the tools and the skills required for meaningful participation. Economic accessibility 36. Education must be affordable for all, without discrimination based on sex or any other prohibited ground, and should be free and compulsory from preschool through secondary school and progressively made free through the tertiary level. Despite the existence of legislation providing for free education up to a stipulated age or grade level, in many States parties, auxiliary fees are imposed on students attending public schools to augment government subsidies. In addition, parents are faced with meeting the hidden costs of uniforms, transportation, textbooks and other school materials, school lunch and various levies and user fees, with students from the poorest quintile being most adversely affected and often stigmatized. 17-19774 9/23