52 "RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT sentence of Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2), nor any derogation from the right to respect for private and family life enshrined in Article 8 (art. 8) of the Convention. On this point, the Court first emphasises that the French-language nursery and primary schools existing in the six communes are open to the children of the signatories of Application No. 1677/62. The right to education of these children, within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2), is thus respected. Moreover, no interference with the exercise of the right to respect for private and family life protected by Article 8 (art. 8) of the Convention can be found in this case. In alleging before the Commission that this provision had been violated, the Applicants have misunderstood its scope. To require a child to study in depth that national language which is not his own, cannot be characterised as an act of "depersonalisation". As regards the decision of certain Applicants to send their children to a French-language school in Greater Brussels, rather than to a school governed by Section 7 (3) (B) of the Act of 2nd August 1963, this is the result of their own choice and not of an interference by the authorities in their private and family life. It remains to be decided whether the measures in issue violate the first sentence of Article 2 of the Protocol or Article 8 of the Convention, read in conjunction with Article 14 (art. 14+P1-2, art. 14+8). Here again the reply must be negative. The six communes in question belong to an area which is by tradition Dutch-speaking. In consideration of the large number of French-speaking persons who are resident there, the legislature has established a system which departs from the principle of territoriality. It makes the organisation of official or subsidised education in French subject to the deposit of a request by 16 heads of family living in the commune in question; moreover, this education is compulsorily accompanied by a study in depth of Dutch. In so doing, the Act does not go outside limits drawn according to objective criteria and is based on a public interest. Furthermore, the establishment and maintenance of education conducted in French is possible in the communes concerned. Finally, the fact that this education is tied to a study in depth of Dutch, whereas the study of French remains optional in Dutch schools in the same communes, does not constitute a discrimination as the latter belong to a region which is, by tradition, Dutch-speaking. As regards the argument based on the absence, at Kraainem, of official or subsidised secondary education in French, the Court recalls that Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) does not require the Contracting States to establish educational establishments: the question is thus one which is left to the evaluation of the competent national authorities. The Court also notes once again that in Belgium compulsory schooling extends essentially to primary education. It points out, incidentally, that Kraainem does not even possess, at present, education in Dutch at the secondary level.