Abolition of early French in Zurich – pros and cons

At the beginning of September 2025, the Zurich Cantonal Council decided to abolish early French in Zurich. French will therefore no longer be taught in primary school, but only from secondary school onwards – i.e. from secondary school or grammar school.

The cantonal government now has two years to create the legal basis for the abolition of early French in Zurich.
Read the pros and cons of abolishing early French in the canton of Zurich here.

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Table of contents

• Pro abolition of Early French Zurich
   
• Contra abolition of Early French Zurich
   
• Conclusion

Pro abolition of Early French Zurich

The following arguments in favour of abolishing early French in the canton of Zurich were put forward, among others:  

• The effort required for early French in primary school is too great in relation to the effect, as many pupils only have a limited knowledge of French at the end of primary school, as primary and secondary school teachers have reportedly observed.
   
• Proponents of abolishing early French in primary school also argue that this would protect children from being overwhelmed and promote motivation; they claim that the current curriculum is overloaded.
   
• Alain Pichard, a primary school teacher in Biel, told the NZZ newspaper that early French teaching is problematic because children struggle with the complexity of French and learn to hate it; moreover, more and more children already have problems with German. He believes that exchange programmes with French-speaking Switzerland are a better option, as they allow children to learn French through immersion, i.e. by spending the whole day surrounded by French in a French-speaking school and host family, as well as in everyday life, watching television and reading newspapers in the Romandie region.

Contra abolition of Early French Zurich

The following counterarguments against the abolition of early French language teaching in the canton of Zurich were put forward, among others:  

• Switzerland's most important trading partners are Germany, the USA and France, which is why Swiss companies offer better opportunities to those who also speak French, as publicist Peter Rothenbühler told the NZZ newspaper.
   
• There are also many Swiss companies from German-speaking Switzerland that operate throughout Switzerland and in which French is therefore the first foreign language.
   
• Zurich's Director of Education, Silvia Steiner, emphasises the importance of French in shaping the identity of Switzerland as a whole, as French is not a foreign language but one of the national languages of the Swiss Confederation. 
  
  The Federal Council argues along the same lines, saying that early French is also important in order to give the national languages the necessary importance and to ensure exchange between the language communities. The Federal Council wants to make learning a second national language – for example, early French – compulsory in primary schools at the national level. This is against the backdrop that not only Zurich wants to abolish early French, but also the cantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden.
   
• According to the HarmoS agreement, two foreign languages must be taught in primary school and thus harmonised nationally in all cantons that have signed the HarmoS agreement (including Zurich); if French is dropped as a foreign language in Zurich's primary schools, only English will remain, which would be a contradiction to the HarmoS agreement. Zurich's Director of Education, Silvia Steiner, even believes that if early French were to be dropped, Zurich would have to withdraw from the HarmoS agreement.
   
• Educational scientist Christine Le Pape Racine told the Tagesanzeiger newspaper that empirical research shows that children are not overwhelmed by French. 
  
  However, Silvia Steiner warns that postponing the start of French lessons until the first year of secondary school would put more pressure on young people, as the timetable would then have to be expanded significantly.
   
• In addition, postponing the start of French lessons until secondary school would entail high follow-up costs, as new teaching materials would have to be purchased, curricula revised and teacher training adapted, explains Education Director Steiner.    

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Conclusion

There are significantly more arguments in favour of maintaining early French than there are for abolishing it.   

Technical developments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) do not change this. AI-supported translation programmes can be used to translate entire texts with a single click. With the help of the so-called ‘lip sync’ function, you can even put any other foreign language into the mouths of people in videos, as the AI simply adapts the lip movements of the person in the video to the new audio track of the translated language.  

However, with AI tools – at least for the time being – you always have to check whether the AI has got the tone of the foreign language right. To do this, the user needs at least a basic knowledge of the foreign language in question. We should therefore not voluntarily give up our language skills under any circumstances.  

In addition, even if you only achieve basic skills at A2 level during compulsory schooling, you will at least reduce your fear of foreign languages. You create a foundation that will make it much easier for students to deepen and perfect their knowledge of the respective foreign language later on.   

Improve your French in a supplementary course – it will also help you later in life

Sources

• Supplementary courses prep for Short-Term High School (last accessed: October 17, 2025)
   
• Zurich cantonal parliament wants to abolish early French (last accessed: October 17, 2025)
   
• Canton of Zurich wants to abolish French in primary schools (last accessed: October 17, 2025)
   
• “Non merci”: French at primary level to be abolished (last accessed: October 17, 2025)
   
• Language dispute: The German-speaking Swiss turn away, the French-speaking Swiss are offended (last accessed: October 17, 2025)
   
• Federal Council wants to make French compulsory in primary schools (last accessed: October 17, 2025)
   
• Will early French soon be passé? (last accessed: October 17, 2025)
   
• Zurich abolishes early French: “A wrong decision all along the line!” (last accessed: October 17, 2025)