and implement a plan of action, development agencies and developed countries will assist and co-operate. Essential features of the right to education The 4-A scheme: availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability Education in all its forms and at all levels should meet the four interrelated and essential features of availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability (the four A’s).84 The criteria of accountability, which could be regarded as a fifth ‘A’, will be discussed in term of reference (iii). We are grateful to Dr Sheldon Shaeffer, Director of UNESCO Bangkok, for suggesting this fifth A. Ensuring each of these features is a precondition for the full realisation of the right to education. The CESCR has said that, when considering the appropriate application of the four A’s, the best interests of the student shall be a primary consideration.85 A State’s failure to meet any one of the four A’s constitutes a violation of the right to education. Availability Availability requires the capacity of educational institutions and programmes to be matched to the number of students needing such facilities. This will require a sufficient budgetary allocation. According to the CESCR, what educational institutions and programmes require to function depends on numerous factors, including the developmental context within which they operate.86 The Committee said that, for example, all institutions and programmes are likely to require: …buildings or other protection from the elements, sanitation facilities for both sexes, safe drinking water, trained teachers receiving domestically competitive salaries, teaching materials, and so on; while some will also require facilities such as a library, computer facilities and information technology; 84 CESCR General Comment No. 13: The right to education E/C.12/1999/10 8 December 1999 at para 6. The four A’s were formulated by the Special Rapporteur on the right to education and were first employed by her in relation to primary education: see 1999 report at para 50. The four A’s have also been applied to other economic, social and cultural rights: see, for example, CESCR General Comment No. 14: The right to the highest attainable standard of health E/C.12/2000/4 11 August 2000 at para 12. 85 CESCR General Comment No. 13: The right to education E/C.12/1999/10 8 December 1999 at para 7. See also article 3(1) of the CRC. 86 CESCR General Comment No. 13: The right to education E/C.12/1999/10 8 December 1999 at para 6(a). 56