UNLIKE other countries such as Canada, education in France is definitely centralized. It all began in the 1880s when the then Minister of Public Instruction, Jules Ferry, ordered all children under the age of 15 to attend compulsory education. This was the time when the precarious Third Republic of France was created. Centralized as it is, holidays in primary education in France is decentralized. This is made to prevent the congestion of tourists in a particular area. So there are separate holidays in such districts as Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille.

Part of the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Education, which is currently headed by Xavier Darcos, is to coordinate with private schools in the country which are mostly run by Catholic and Protestant groups. Of course, since France is populated with Muslims and Jews as well, there are also madrasahs and schools run by the Jewish here but they only accept students who come from their respective religions. There is an explicit separation between Church and State in France as far as education is concerned. Xavier Darcos is known to be a hard-knock educator. He’s got a PhD at Bordeaux and is a professor since 1968. He became a politician for a while, becoming deputy to the mayor of Perigueux in 1989. Then he became a school inspector and eventually rose to the ranks in the ministry.

Since the public school system in France is centralized, its elementary and high school curricula are understandably the same from Paris down to the most rural villages of the country. Thus, France has one of the highest literacy rates and the most intelligent people in Europe since everybody is provided the same basic education. A typical academic year runs from September to July of the succeeding year. In French primary schools, the following fields are taught – French, mathematics, natural sciences, history and geography. Patriotic as they are, most French parents send their children only to monolingual schools but some of them who have toured the world have discovered that English is still the universal language. Thus, there are large numbers of students nowadays who have made a switch to enroll in bilingual schools. Or you may opt for private tutorship. There is an education strategy in France called language exchange.

Many non-French speakers from all over the world, including from as far as Botswana and the Philippines, have come to France all these years to study French. These English-speaking peoples in turn share their native languages to French natives who are craving to learn English. Even a French language school is a conspirator to this unique education strategy.

The French language school has an immersion program for its foreign students. Foreigners are usually embedded to a host French family during their language course which is usually equal to an academic semester or six months. During this period, the foreigner striving to learn French and the French trying to learn English exchange languages. So what are you waiting for? French education is one of the best in the world so come and study here.