Zurich’s recent decision to stop teaching French in primary schools has sparked controversy among Switzerland’s educators and politicians. Was the move even legal?
On September 1st, Zurich’s parliament passed a motion submitted by various parties seeking to remove French from the obligatory curriculum for younger children and not teach it until secondary school – which, experts say, is not as effective.
In fact, Zurich is not the only canton to take this step.
Out of 19 German-speaking cantons, only 12 currently teach French in primary schools – third or fourth grade – and more are thinking of abandoning it in favour in English.
The reaction to Zurich’s decision was swift.
“This situation is one of the effects of globalisation, which leads to a loss of identity,” Christophe Darbellay, president of the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Public Education, said in an interview.
Frédéric Borloz, head of Vaud’s Department of Education and Vocational Training, also said that “learning another national language is a necessity in Switzerland in the name of national cohesion.”
And Home Affairs Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider criticised this move as a step toward “devaluing the national culture.”
“This is a development that I take very seriously,” she said, adding that she will present “different options” to the Federal Council on how to handle this situation.
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Why is this issue so important in Switzerland?
The obvious answer is that Switzerland is a country with four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh (though, because so few people still use it, the latter is considered an ‘official’ language for historic and symbolic reasons only).
Being a multilingual country – and preserving this status quo – is taken very seriously, as is teaching a second national language in public schools..
And this is not merely a matter of choice, but a legal obligation, enshrined in Switzerland’s Constitution.
This is what the law says:
Firstly, it states that the country must “ strengthen quadrilingualism as one of Switzerland’s fundamental characteristics.”
The Constitution also clearly states the importance of promoting “the internal cohesion and cultural diversity of the country” and, by the same token, “equal status among languages.”
This means that the government “treats the four national Swiss languages equally.”
READ ALSO: How did Switzerland become a country with four languages?
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‘Encourage plurilingualism’
There are also legal provisions concerning the issue at hand – that is, teaching of national languages, other than the canton’s native one, in public schools.
One such provision states that, “encouraging plurilingualism among learners and teachers” falls “within the scope” of cantons’ responsibilities.”
Therefore, cantons must “be committed to a system of teaching languages that guarantees that at the end of their compulsory schooling, students have skills in at least one second national language.”
To that end, cantons should “devise the basic requirements for the teaching of a second and third national language.”
The law doesn’t allow the option of NOT teaching a second national language, or replacing it with a foreign language, like English, although it does encourage teaching a foreign language in addition to, not instead of, a national one.
In practice, this means that public schools in German-speaking cantons should teach French, and in French regions, German.
In Italian-speaking Ticino, the second compulsory national language is German, as it is the country’s predominant language.
Ticino students also have a possibility of learning French, as a third national language.
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Is Zurich really breaking the law?
Zurich authorities decided to eliminate French from early classes, not remove it from the curriculum altogether.
It would be taught later on, in secondary schools, contrary to most cantons, where the second national language is typically taught from early age.
In this sense, Zurich is not breaking the law but bucking the national trend.
There is also another reason why this move is widely criticised.
“No one would consider postponing the teaching of mathematics,” Baume-Schneider pointed out.
She also noted an opposite trend in French-speaking Switzerland, where the number of hours of German teaching is increasing.
“Some people feel that the French-speaking Swiss are making an effort, while the German-speaking Swiss are moving away from their national languages,” she said.
READ ALSO: Just how good are the Swiss at speaking the country’s different languages?
