"RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT 75 because "pupils who sit the examinations in the last (...) year of secondary school form a group that has survived severe elimination as a result of the examinations and of the failures of the five previous years". On the other hand, pupils who come before the Central Board "have not been so severely selected" and "a by no means negligible number" of them "are wholly or partially self-taught". The syllabus of the examination in question is so planned as to give to candidates "a reasonable chance of success". As regards the entrance fee payable, the cost is "modest". The Belgian Government further emphasises that as a general rule, "a university graduate, no matter what the language of his degree, may settle anywhere in the country and take up any profession for which his degree fits him". In Belgium, admission to only certain professions - "the Bench, the civil service, education provided, aided or recognised by the public authorities, etc" - is dependent on a command of the language of the region; it is possible "to have no knowledge at all of Dutch and yet to practise medicine, law or engineering in Flanders". What would happen if the Belgian State were to agree to the homologation of school leaving certificates issued in Flanders by French-language private schools but at the same time introduced legislation that stipulated certain requirements relating to the knowledge of languages for the exercise of any liberal profession? According to the Government this would create an "unhealthy situation": on the one hand, one "would be encouraging all French-speakers living in Flanders to send their children" to such schools; on the other, one would be denying these children entry "to the careers to which they aspire", as such establishments would not give them a sufficient grounding in the necessary language. In the Government’s view, such legislation would be "much more severe, much stricter and more dishonest" than the provisions now in force and "would constitute a veritable trap". Yet it would violate neither "the letter nor the spirit of the Convention". A fortiori, the laws now in force being "more liberal and wiser", respect the Convention and the Protocol. The Belgian Government furthermore lays great emphasis on one of the consequences which would, in its opinion, follow the adoption of the Applicants’ thesis. It recalls that the aim of the Convention and the Protocol is to protect Human Rights and not those of the citizen, for the rights and freedoms safeguarded are secured to all persons within the jurisdiction of the Contracting States, "including foreigners and even nationals of non-signatory States", and this "without discrimination on any ground such as national origin" (Articles 1 and 14 of the Convention) (art. 1, art. 14). From this the Government infers that "the Applicants cannot invoke before a European judicial authority more extensive rights than those to which foreigners are entitled": "can it be said that a foreign minority in the Belgian coalmining area may demand that funds be provided for