Over the weekend, a majority of voters in the canton of Basel-Landschaft rejected a plan to remove French from the primary school syllabus.
Liestal, Basel-Landschaft – source: wikipedia_Umschattiger
The plan entitled: Stop overloading pupils, called for removal of French from the syllabus.
Most children in German-speaking Switzerland speak Swiss German at home. When they go to school they must learn high German. Some argue that learning high German, French and English is too burdensome for children.
Others argue it is important for children to learn other Swiss national languages, such as French.
On Sunday, 67.7% of voters rejected the initiative.
This means French will be taught from the 3rd year alongside English, which will start in the 5th year. This is in line with a plan to harmonise language teaching across Switzerland’s German-speaking cantons.
In Basel-Landschaft, the 3rd year is the first year of primary school.
More on this:
Canton of Basel-Landschaft press release (in German)
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