(a) All educational, counseling, and vocational guidance programs and all apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs of state agencies, or in which state agencies participate, shall be open to all qualified persons, without regard to race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, intellectual disability, mental disability, learning disability, physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness, or status as a veteran.

(b) Such programs shall be conducted to encourage the fullest development of the interests, aptitudes, skills, and capacities of all students and trainees, with special attention to the problems of culturally deprived, educationally handicapped, learning disabled, economically disadvantaged, or physically disabled, including, but not limited to, blind persons.

(c) Expansion of training opportunities under these programs shall be encouraged so as to involve larger numbers of participants from those segments of the labor force where the need for upgrading levels of skill is greatest.

(1969, P.A. 790, S. 7; P.A. 73-279, S. 11; P.A. 78-148, S. 6; P.A. 80-422, S. 23; P.A. 90-330, S. 9, 11; P.A. 01-28, S. 6; P.A. 11-55, S. 33; 11-129, S. 20; P.A. 17-127, S. 12.)

History: P.A. 73-279 prohibited discrimination based on physical disability including blindness; P.A. 78-148 prohibited discrimination based on mental retardation; P.A. 80-422 divided section into Subsecs. and made slight change in wording of Subsec. (c); Sec. 4-61h transferred to Sec. 46a-75 in 1981; P.A. 90-330 added references to persons with learning disabilities in Subsecs. (a) and (b); P.A. 01-28 amended Subsec. (a) by adding references to “marital status” and “mental disability”; P.A. 11-55 amended Subsec. (a) to add reference to gender identity or expression; pursuant to P.A. 11-129, “mental retardation” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “intellectual disability” in Subsec. (a); P.A. 17-127 amended Subsec. (a) to add “status as a veteran”, and make technical changes.