A/HRC/36/65 on Georgian-controlled territory — travelling in ordinary motor cars which are not suitable for the transportation of patients in critical condition. 69. According to the Office of the Public Defender, medical infrastructure is underdeveloped and health services are poor in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Office of the Public Defender and other sources reported that medical facilities in Abkhazia were inadequate, due to the lack of qualified specialists, poor equipment and the condition of health-care facilities, especially in Gali district. The low level of qualification of medical personnel and high costs of medical services in Abkhazia and South Ossetia reportedly lead many to seek treatment for serious health conditions outside of these territories, despite the difficulties and risks related to movement across the Administrative Boundary Line. Due to the absence of facilities for children in need of intensive care in Abkhazia, children need to be transported for hours all the way to the city of Kutaisi, thus considerably delaying the provision of medical services when they are urgently required. 70. According to the Office of the Public Defender, several hospitals in South Ossetia have been rehabilitated and refurbished but are mainly used for primary medical purposes by local communities, due to the lack of qualified medical personnel. As the Administrative Boundary Line with South Ossetia is closed (except for in Akhalgori district), patients requiring emergency care are transferred to medical facilities on Georgian-controlled territory, by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Office of the Public Defender was informed of several fatalities allegedly caused by delayed consent to people moving out of the territory by the Tskhinvali hospital management and the authorities in control. 9. Right to education 71. Under article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to education, which should be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The right to education is essential to the full enjoyment of a wide array of other rights. 72. It is important to create adequate opportunities for children to learn their mother tongue or to receive instruction in their mother tongue, particularly at the preschool and primary school levels. Children should be given adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to learn through the medium of the mother tongue, alternatives which should not be mutually exclusive. Specific forms of such opportunities should be chosen in consultation with the population affected, taking into account their freely expressed wishes. Curricula should adequately reflect the diversity and plurality of a society. 73. The Office of the Public Defender noted that obstacles to the right to education in one’s native language and to access to quality education in general remained a serious issue for communities in Gali district that identify as ethnically Georgian. 29 The Council of Europe noted that Russian had replaced Georgian as the language of instruction in schools in Gali, thus restricting access to the native Georgian language. The Government of Georgia cited restrictions imposed on the education of ethnic Georgian children in their native language in Abkhazia. For instance, out of 31 schools in Gali, 11 schools — all located in the so-called “lower zone” — enjoyed the status of Georgian schools, with Georgian being the language of instruction until the end of the 2014/15 academic year. 74. According to the Office of the Public Defender, teaching in Georgian will be terminated in Gali district schools by 2021 and fully replaced with teaching in Russian. The 2016/17 academic year started in line with these changes, which, according to the Government of Georgia, are aimed at the gradual replacement of the Georgian curriculum with the Russian Federation curriculum for all grades in the 11 schools in the “lower zone” of Gali district. 29 For more information, see the special report of the Public Defender of Georgia entitled “The right to education in the Gali district: new developments and challenges in the academic year of 2015-2016”, available from www.ombudsman.ge/uploads/other/3/3363.pdf. 13