Canton Zurich Votes To Abolish Early French Lessons In Schools

2025-09-02 02:21:25

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(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Pupils in the Swiss canton of Zurich should in future only learn French from secondary school or high school onwards, the cantonal parliament has decided. This content was published on September 1, 2025 - 13:58 2 minutes Keystone-SDA

Deutsch de Zürcher Kantonsparlament will Frühfranzösisch abschaffen Original Read more: Zürcher Kantonsparlament will Frühfranzösisch abschaffe

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On Monday, the cantonal parliament passed a motion to this effect from by 108 votes to 64.

The cantonal council instructed the Zurich government to create the necessary legal basis within two years to ensure that French is only taught from upper secondary school onwards – and not from Year five, as is currently the case.

The cantonal government had rejected the motion.

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“The early introduction of the second national language has not achieved its goal,” said parliamentary motion author Kathrin Wydler. Starting French lessons later should improve learning outcomes, promote motivation and avoid excessive demands.

For some time now, primary and lower secondary school teachers have been complaining about pupils' modest knowledge of French at the end of primary school, argued the authors of the motion.

The teaching of French in primary schools is being called into question in other German-speaking cantons, such as Basel-Country, St Gallen, and Thurgau. The parliament of Appenzell Outer Rhodes adopted a motion to this effect last March.

More More Top teacher questions early French in Swiss schools

This content was published on May 26, 2025 Following the results on pupils' language skills, the president of the umbrella organisation of Swiss teachers says the teaching of French to young children needs to be discussed.

Read more: Top teacher questions early French in Swiss school

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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