Zurich is the latest German-speaking Swiss canton to question Switzerland’s policy of teaching French from the first years of school. This week, its cantonal council voted to scrap early French lessons, joining Appenzell Ausserrhoden, which made a similar decision earlier this year. Proposals to delay French instruction until high school are under discussion in other German-speaking cantons, including St Gallen, Thurgau and even bilingual Bern, reported SRF.
Switzerland has three main national languages: German, French and Italian. Teaching national languages at school is viewed by many as part of the political and cultural glue that unifies the multilingual nation. However, only a minority are fluent in more than one national language. Increasingly, young people are focusing on English as a second language rather than another Swiss language.
The Zurich government had argued for keeping the status quo. Silvia Steiner, the education director, warned that abandoning early French would amount to playing with fire. This week’s decision will move Zurich further from following HarmoS, an agreement among Swiss cantons designed to harmonise key aspects of the country’s fragmented school system, something aimed at making it easier for students to move cantons. Zurich agreed to sign up to HarmoS in 2006. But in a 2009 cantonal referendum, voters rejected ratification, so Zurich never actually joined. Despite this, the canton has often aligned itself with some of its standards.
The recent decision also runs counter to federal policy. Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, a cabinet minister from Jura, a French-speaking canton, has repeatedly defended early French, stressing that linguistic diversity is central to the country’s identity. You cannot celebrate Switzerland’s unity on August 1st and then neglect the means of understanding one another, she said.
French-speaking Switzerland sees the decision as a snub. Many are particularly irked that Zurich plans to keep early English while dropping early French. Yet few are surprised. In French-speaking Switzerland, German is firmly established from primary school onwards, though results are mixed – few become fluent because many never end up using what they learned at school. Even so, there is broad agreement that exposing children to a second national language early on is essential if Swiss multilingualism is to endure.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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