"RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT 33 A. As to the first question 2. The first question concerns the laws on the use of languages in education in the regions considered by the law as being unilingual, except for two aspects which are dealt with under the second and sixth questions. It relates, more precisely, to whether or not in the case of the Applicants, there is a violation of Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) and Articles 8 and 14 (art. 8, art. 14) of the Convention, or of any of those Articles : "in so far as the Acts of 1932 prevented, and those of 1963 prevent, the establishment or the subsidisation by the State, of schools not in conformity with the general linguistic requirements". 3. On this point the facts of the case appear sufficiently from the general outline of the Acts in issue which the Court has given above (pages 13-19). 1. Arguments presented by the Applicants before or through the Commission 4. According to the Applicants, the laws on the use of languages in education in the unilingual regions infringe Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) and Articles 8 and 14 (art. 8, art. 14) of the Convention. The Acts of 1932 and 1963 do not, in the first place, comply with the two sentences of Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2). The Belgian State denies the children of the Applicants a complete education in their maternal language. This refusal is made even more rigid since the Act of 30th July 1963 has, in spite of the increase in the French-speaking population, brought about the progressive abolition of transmutation classes and special language classes which in the view of the Applicants constituted "a lesser evil". The parents’ linguistic aspirations are moreover disregarded; primary education being compulsory, many of the Applicants are obliged, in practice, to send their children to schools where the teaching is given in Dutch. Admittedly, the legislation under attack does not prohibit children from pursuing their studies in French but the loopholes open to them are utopian and illusory. It is beyond the power of the Applicants to have their children taught at home. As for sending them to Brussels, Wallonia or abroad, there are material and moral obstacles to this solution which are often insuperable. Lastly, the establishment of private French-language schools in Flanders likewise offers only a rather theoretical remedy by reason of the high costs resulting from the absence of subsidies. The complaints founded on Article 8 (art. 8) of the Convention are essentially based on the same facts. The Belgian legislation on the use of languages threatens the children’s intellectual and emotional development, prevents the head of the family from deciding in what language his children shall be taught, and interferes with the unity of the family by making the Applicants send their children either to local schools where teaching is