AFRICAN YOUTH CHARTER • 21 c) Preparing young people for responsible lives in free societies that promote peace, understanding, tolerance, dialogue, mutual respect and friendship among all nations and across all groupings of people; d) The preservation and strengthening of positive African morals, traditional values and cultures and the development of national and African identity and pride; e) The development of respect for the environment and natural resources; f) The development of life skills to function effectively in society and include issues such as HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, substance abuse prevention and cultural practices that are harmful to the health of young girls and women as part of the education curricula; 4. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures with a view to achieving full realisation of this right and shall, in particular: a) Provide free and compulsory basic education and take steps to minimise the indirect costs of education; b) Make all forms of secondary education more readily available and accessible by all possible means including progressively free; c) Take steps to encourage regular school attendance and reduce drop-out rates;