Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |75 progressively to the higher end.54 The services to be provided would include availing widely used official documents in minority languages, accepting oral or written applications in minority languages and use of minority languages as an internal and daily language of work within public authorities. Tailored to suit the concrete linguistic circumstances of each state, the sliding-scale approach can be an effective weapon to accommodate linguistic diversity. In any case, the sliding-scale approach clearly acknowledges that it is impractical to provide every government service in all the 16 official languages in all ten provinces in Zimbabwe. As regards use of languages in the public service, international law does not oblige states to provide all public services in every language that members of the public might speak given the multiplicity of languages spoken in most multilingual states worldwide. States are expected to provide public services and communication in official languages in places where their speakers are found in significant numbers, the public services in question are of a very important nature, and the resources required to provide the public services can be made available without unduly compromising the distribution of resources in other areas of public demand as well.55 Zimbabwe could use the ‘sliding-scale approach’ to determine from the size of a linguistic population, their territorial concentration, the capacity of the state, and the nature of the service to determine which minority languages should be used in public service. Such an approach is practical in Zimbabwe where language groups are usually territorially concentrated and most social and economic affairs are conducted at local levels in the regional or local vernacular. b. Language use in education Section 75(1) of the Constitution affords everyone a right to state funded basic and progressively state funded further education. In international law, three key issues deal with the right to education, namely, mother tongue education, curricular content and establishment of private educational institutions. 54 F de Varennes, ibid at 177. 55 F de Varennes, ibid at 177-178.