A/HRC/44/39/Add.1 to education, education in all its forms and at all levels should exhibit the following interrelated and essential features: availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability (para. 6). The Special Rapporteur has the following comments relating to the first three features. A. Availability 43. While congratulating Qatar for the measures adopted to foster the establishment of numerous and various educational institutions of quality throughout the country, including at the pre-primary and tertiary levels, the Special Rapporteur stresses that a number of difficulties remain. Availability of school places and the issue of waiting lists 44. The Special Rapporteur received many reports indicating that public schools cannot accommodate all the non-Qatari students who wish to attend them. Those students are therefore obliged to attend private schools, including community schools. 45. Many community schools, as well as private schools charging modest tuition fees, lack the space and capacity to accommodate all those who would like to enrol in them, as the cheaper schools are preferred by parents. There are sometimes several hundred children’s names on their waiting lists. The Government recognizes the existence of the problem, particularly for the Indian and Pakistani communities, although the Special Rapporteur was informed of similar problems for other nationalities, for example Filipinos. 46. Waiting lists may be the result of parents choosing one particular school that they feel is of a higher quality. However, the problem goes beyond this, as parents wish to send their children to less expensive schools, such as community schools, which they find are also of good quality. Telling these parents that they can either send their children to the private sector or send them back home if they cannot afford private schools is not a tolerable solution from the point of view of the right to education. 47. Many of the Special Rapporteur’s interlocutors informed her of the difficulties caused by the tightening of certain fire safety regulations in schools, forcing the schools to reduce the maximum number of children on the school roll. While the security of children should be a priority, the Special Rapporteur agrees with many stakeholders that schools should be supported to establish new branches and/or operate afternoon shifts, or that entirely new schools should be created to respond to the demand of parents and learners. 48. The Special Rapporteur was pleased to receive confirmation from the Government that there were no restrictions on the operation of schools in the afternoon, although this was considered to be a last resort. Representatives of the Ministry of Education informed her that measures had been adopted to increase the capacity of schools that had low fees and provided a good education, and that a number of schools had opened new branches and investors had been encouraged to open new private schools. 49. However, while some community schools have been allowed to organize additional classes in the afternoon, sometimes on a temporary basis, others have reportedly not been allowed to do so. According to various sources, that was the case for Indian community schools, for which afternoon shifts were reportedly refused when it was assessed that the demand for private Indian schools would consequently drop significantly. 50. The Special Rapporteur was also informed that, while some communities have established community schools, others have not as that still implies exorbitant costs, despite government support. That is the case, for example, for the Nepalese community. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur was happy to learn that discussions were under way with that community to address the issue. 51. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that, submerged with demands from parents, some community schools, for example the cheapest Indian schools, tend to enrol children from their own community first, leaving children from other communities who do not have their own schools with no adequate solution. 9