E/CN.4/1995/91 page 125 in order to take account of the economic capacity of monasteries, some of which, overwhelmed by the number of lamas, had decided to turn away new arrivals. The head of the Drepung monastery said that the monastery had 550 lamas and that an increase in their number would lead to financial difficulties, threatening the monastery’s financial independence and the provision of high quality teaching. The Director-General of the Chinese Centre of Tibetan Studies in Beijing explained that it was important to have good quality lamas rather than a high number of lamas, which led to social stagnation and slowed down economic development. The CERA also informed the Special Rapporteur that persons under the age of 18 were able to become monks providing they did so voluntarily and had their parents’ consent. b. Freedom of movement of religious workers The Special Rapporteur received details from the authorities and the religious associations of numerous and varied inter-denominational exchanges with foreign countries. The CERA stated that religious workers were free to travel without authorization, although unofficial sources qualified this by explaining that very often there was no special reason for the journeys or sometimes formalities had to be completed. c. Financial resources The religious representatives stated that their salaries came from believers donations and not from State subsidies. In the case of Tibet, the CERA told the Special Rapporteur that the regional Government was about to give grants in the form of salaries to monks in large monasteries. (ii) Places of worship a. Number of places of worship According to the information transmitted to the Special Rapporteur from official and other sources, there are insufficient places of worship for the number of believers. b. Worship in the home The Special Rapporteur was told that worship in the home was accepted, particularly in the case of Protestants who had meeting places in houses in suburban and rural areas. These meeting places are in fact attached to the churches and are mentioned during the registration procedure. According to religious representatives, the practice of using the home for worship is however irregular if there is already a place of worship such as a church nearby. Non-governmental sources report a growth in the use of homes as places of worship because of the development of unofficial Christian religious organizations, including sects. c. Registration According to the authorities, since the new decrees came into force, hundreds of thousands of places of worship have been registered. However, they were unable to provide any precise information.