French schools to introduce Ukrainian as a second foreign language

Starting in September 2025, a pilot project to teach Ukrainian as a second foreign language is expected to launch in four academic regions (académies) of France. This was announced by the Embassy of Ukraine in France and confirmed by France’s Minister of National Education, Higher Education, and Research, Élisabeth Borne, in a letter to Ukraine’s Minister of Education, Oksen Lisovyi.

Ukrainian will be introduced into the school curricula of collèges and lycées in the Paris region, the Alpes-Maritimes (Nice), Versailles, and Créteil — the areas with the highest number of Ukrainian children enrolled in schools.

According to the embassy, this initiative is the result of its diplomatic efforts in partnership with the French Ministry of Education, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and members of the National Assembly.

“For the past few years, the embassy has been working on making it possible to introduce Ukrainian as a second foreign language… and now we have achieved results,” said Ukraine’s Ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, during a conference in Nice.

In the French education system, a second foreign language is introduced at age 12, after primary school. It is added to English, which children begin learning in the early grades. In lycées, senior students will be able to study Ukrainian as preparation for higher or vocational education.

RELATED: Only 345 school children study Russian in Ukraine

Source: Osvitoria media

Main image: Benoit Tessier / Reuters

Copy editing: Terra Friedman King