102.3 The Persons with Disability Act, 2011 (Act No. 3) has been enacted to protect the rights of persons with disability. It establishes a National Commission for Persons with Disability which is tasked with the responsibility of prohibiting discrimination and equalizing opportunities for people with disability. The act expressly provides that persons with disability, including children with disability, shall enjoy the following rights: right to free education, protection from discrimination in educational institutions, provision of free medical services, compulsory screening at health centres, and, inter alia, prohibition of denial of employment and protection from discrimination in employment. 102.4 In addition, various policies and programmes have been introduced, and are discussed in detail in the relevant substantive parts of this report, which introduce special measures to equalise opportunities for children especially vulnerable to exclusion from enjoyment of their rights. For example, primary education has been made free to address the exclusion of many children living in poverty from enrolling and completing school. Similarly, special measures have been introduced to subsidize the secondary school costs of girls which have been excluded in part through the customary preference given to boys and tertiary education is provided free for children with disability. Health care is also provided free of charge to pregnant women and children under the age of five years, and policy provision is made for the provision of free medical care for children who have been abused and children with disability. 102.5 Not only the law, but also governance arrangements have been designed to advance equality at a local level. The GoSL has decentralized the power to administer national policies and laws and to administer budgets to local government through the Local Government Act, 2004. The rationale underlying this is premised on the “core principle of non-discrimination to ensure and maintain government’s decentralized but equal treatment of men, women and children everywhere.” The underlying assumption being that local government is best placed to monitor, recognize and respond to the most vulnerable groups within communities through appropriate by-laws and allocation of funds and other resources for the provision of essential health, education and other basic services. 103. Whilst the legal framework for securing equality and freedom from discrimination is gaining strength, vulnerable children and their caregivers do continue to experience widespread de facto discrimination and exclusion from the benefits and protection of the law. As is discussed in the relevant substantive components of the report, children living in poverty, children who do not live with their biological parents, children living in rural areas, children with disabilities, young pregnant girls, children in certain under-developed regions and districts, and children living under customary law do not enjoy equal access to the services and protection provided by the laws of Sierra Leone. 104. The GoSL has made the remediation of discrimination experienced by children along historical equity fault lines a national developmental priority. The Agenda for Prosperity recognizes inequality as a key barrier to development and thus commits to remedying inequities, especially for children, women and people with disabilities through ongoing strengthening of the legal and policy framework and the allocation of additional resources. 4. General Principles  35