Historic move: French schools to offer Ukrainian as a foreign language

The French Ministry of Education is launching a pilot project to introduce Ukrainian as a second foreign language in collèges and lycées, Ukraine’s Ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, announced, according to Ukrinform.

The decision is the result of close cooperation between Ukrainian diplomats, French authorities, and Ukrainian educators from the diaspora, coordinated by the UWC’s International Educational Coordinating Council (IECC).

Omelchenko made the announcement at a nationwide conference in France titled, “Ukrainian Diaspora School: Opportunities, Challenges, and an Effective Educational Path” in Nice, co-organised by the UWC’s IECC.

“For the past few years, the embassy has been working to make it possible to offer Ukrainian as a second foreign language. We stayed in constant contact with the Ministry of National Education and built a strong case for this decision,” Omelchenko said.

IECC chair Lyuba Lyubchyk called the move historic and a significant step toward broader recognition of the Ukrainian language.

“This will allow Ukrainian children in France to choose Ukrainian — rather than Russian, which was often the only option before — as their third foreign language. It will also help expand the presence of Ukrainian in France more generally, since starting in September, French students will be able to study Ukrainian as a foreign language too,” Lyubchyk said.

The project will be launched in four French regions — the Paris area, Alpes-Maritimes, Versailles, and Créteil — where most Ukrainian children under France’s temporary protection are currently enrolled in school.

“The next step is to open Ukrainian sections in international lycées across France,” Lyubchyk said.