Switzerland’s government is considering forcing cantons to keep teaching a second national language in primary schools. The Federal Council said on September 19th that it would draft a law to that effect, though the rule would bite only if the 2004 compromise on language teaching were abandoned.
Some German-speaking cantons have moved French from the primary curriculum to secondary school. That, the government frets, jeopardises both the hard-won harmonisation of school standards and national cohesion. The interior ministry has been tasked with preparing draft legislation that balances cantonal autonomy in education with the need to protect Switzerland’s linguistic diversity.
Two options are being drawn up. One would write the current “HarmoS” solution into law, which obliges pupils to learn two foreign languages at primary level: a national language and English. The other would be looser, requiring only that a second national language be taught by the end of lower secondary school, giving cantons more leeway.
The effort is a hedge against the possible collapse of HarmoS, the school-harmonisation concordat agreed in 2009. If cantons stick with the national languages strategy devised in 2004—or adapt it without downgrading national languages—no federal intervention will be needed.
Yet momentum is shifting. Appenzell Ausserrhoden dropped French from the primary curriculum in March. Zurich followed suit in September, with St Gallen announcing a similar move on Wednesday. Other cantons, including Basel-Landschaft, Thurgau and Schwyz, are debating similar moves. Even in bilingual Bern, the centrist Greens have floated a motion inspired by Zurich’s. The battle over Frühfranzösisch (early French) is only beginning.
More on this:
RTS article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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