Following in the footsteps of the Zurich parliament, the St. Gallen cantonal parliament voted to postpone the teaching of French to secondary school. The vote contradicts the school harmonisation agreement (HarmoS). Teaching a second national language at primary school is an additional burden for pupils, with no proven long-term benefits, according to a motion adopted by the St. Gallen parliament on Wednesday. The Swiss People's Party, the Radical-Liberals, the Centre and Centre-Left (Social Democrats, Greens and Liberal-Greens) groups were behind the motion, which was passed by 88 votes to 24, with one abstention. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Basic skills need to be reinforced at school, some legislators argued. The aim was not to abolish French-language teaching, but to postpone it by two years, from the 5th year of primary school to the first year of secondary school. A minority, however, warned, in vain, against the risk of "browbeating" ...
