Swiss parties split over federal plan for primary-school French

Switzerland’s Federal Council wants to require primary schools to teach a second national language, a move that would effectively secure early French lessons in law. Parties and organisations were due to submit responses to the proposals by Monday, SRF reported.

The government has put forward two options. The stricter proposal would require schools to teach a second national language by the third year of primary school and English by the fifth, as many cantons already do under an agreement. The alternative would require cantons to start teaching a second national language during primary school but give them more flexibility over how they implement it.

The Swiss People’s Party and the FDP reject both options. FDP parliamentarian Bettina Balmer said education policy was a cantonal responsibility and that schools should focus on children’s mother tongue rather than requiring an early second language in every canton. She also said learning a foreign language earlier was not always better.

The Greens support the stricter proposal. Green parliamentarian Katharina Prelicz-Huber argued that children can learn languages more playfully when they start at a younger age.

The Social Democrats, the Centre party and the Swiss teachers’ umbrella organisation favour the more flexible option. Beat Schwendimann, head of education policy at the teachers’ organisation, said some cantonal associations wanted French lessons to begin only in secondary school, but the Federal Council had not offered that option. The umbrella organisation chose the second proposal as a political compromise, he said.

The Federal Council’s proposals respond to efforts in several German-speaking cantons to end early French lessons. Parliaments in some cantons have already approved such plans. The government says it would drop its proposed amendment to the Languages Act if the cantons abandon their plans.