49-3-203. Educational, counseling, and training programs. All educational, counseling, and vocational guidance programs and all apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs of state and local governmental agencies or in which state and local governmental agencies participate must be open to all persons, who must be accepted on the basis of merit and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, or national origin. The programs must be conducted to encourage the full development of the interests, aptitudes, skills, and capacities of all students and trainees, with special attention to the problems of persons who are culturally deprived or who are educationally or economically disadvantaged. Expansion of training opportunities under these programs must be encouraged to involve larger numbers of participants from those segments of the labor force in which the need for upgrading levels of skill is greatest.