A/HRC/16/59 Special Rapporteur notes that many of the current prisoners of conscience are former student leaders. 76. Furthermore, the country’s universities lack research and laboratory facilities and expertise. According to reports, many people in Myanmar believe that the best-functioning higher education institutions are those affiliated with the Defence Services, which are reserved for those intending to pursue a military career. This creates a two-tiered system of higher education in which the majority of the population cannot access high-quality training. 77. As regards economic, social and cultural rights, a central aspect of the State’s legal obligations is the principle of “progressive realization”. Myanmar must take appropriate measures towards full realization of the right to education to the maximum of the available resources. Compliance is assessed in the light of available resources, which is explicit in article 4 of Convention on the Rights of the Child. In contrast to other developing countries, Myanmar appears to have the means to pay for education. It seems that the considerable funds generated by the Government’s exploitation of natural resources are not being used for this purpose. 78. It has been noted that the multi-billion-dollar profits from natural gas sales to Thailand have not been used to improve the educational infrastructure in the country. According to reliable sources, these revenues appear to be stored in offshore bank accounts, outside the national budget. Enormous amounts of revenue are expected to be generated from pending natural gas sales to China through the Shwe gas pipeline. These revenues from natural resource extraction should be used for improving the socio-economic situation of the people of Myanmar. The new Government must address the prioritization of economic, social and cultural rights. There will have to be fundamental changes to how the Government manages its budget. The funds from the sale of natural gas are estimated to account for 70 per cent of the country’s total foreign exchange reserves, with sales totaling around $3 billion annually. If these funds had been included in the State budget, they would have accounted for 57 per cent of the total budget revenue. Instead, they contributed less than 1 per cent of total budget revenue, with much of this revenue reportedly never entering Myanmar.5 These funds need to be included in the Government’s budget and managed transparently with proper checks and balances. 79. In its general comment No. 13, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights notes that “education is recognized as one of the best financial investments States can make” (para. 1). 80. There are some examples of positive developments, which include mobile schools, special classes for over-age children in primary classes and voluntary night schools for children. Another positive development is the provision of education and training outside the State education system by civil society groups and NGOs, with the tacit or explicit permission of the Government. The Special Rapporteur notes that the right to education includes parental freedom to choose education other than that provided by the State and the right of private individuals to establish schools different from State schools. Nevertheless, it is primarily the Government’s responsibility to fulfil this crucial human right and to deploy the necessary resources to do so. 81. The Special Rapporteur would like to highlight the issue of accountability mechanisms. In order to monitor Government efforts to implement the right to education, the people of Myanmar should have access to complaints mechanisms that would be 5 16 Earthrights International, “Revenue transparency in Burma”. Available from www.earthrights.org/campaigns/revenue-transparency-burma-0.