Cantonal School Systems
While compulsory schooling in Switzerland is 9 years long, many of the specifics of the system vary by canton. In most cases, the primary level lasts 6 years, and the lower secondary level 3 years. In only a few cantons, the primary level lasts 4 or 5 years and entrance to the lower secondary level thus occurs either in school year 5 (duration: 5 years) or school year 6 (duration: 4 years). In more than half of the cantons, it is compulsory to attend pre-school. In almost all cantons, the municipalities are obliged to provide pre-school classes.
This table shows the school system for 2009/2010 and how the lower secondary schools are organized:
| Canton | Years of Kindergarten |
Years of Kindergarten provided | Years of Kindergarten legally required | Length of Primary School | Length of mandatory Secondary School | Separate Secondary Schools? | Cooperative Secondary Schools? | Integrated Secondary Schools? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zurich | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3 | Yes | No | No |
| Bern | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lucerne | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Uri | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | No | No | Yes |
| Schwyz | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | No | No | Yes |
| Obwalden | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | No | No | Yes |
| Nidwalden | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | No | No | Yes |
| Glarus | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zug | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | No | No | Yes |
| Fribourg | 2 | 1 or 2 | 0 or 2 | 6 | 3 | Yes | No | Yes |
| Solothurn | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Basel-Stadt | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | Yes | No | No |
| Basel-Landschaft | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | Yes | No | No |
| Schaffhausen | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | No | No | Yes |
| Appenzell Ausserrhoden | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Appenzell Innerrhoden | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| St. Gallen | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3 | No | No | Yes |
| Graubünden | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | Yes | No | No |
| Aargau | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | Yes | No | No |
| Thurgau | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 3 | Yes | No | No |
| Ticino | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 4 | Yes | No | No |
| Vaud | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | Yes | No | No |
| Valais | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | Yes | No | No |
| Neuchâtel | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | Yes | No | No |
| Geneva | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | Yes | No | No |
| Jura | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | Yes | No | No |
Read more about this topic: Education In Switzerland
Famous quotes containing the words school and/or systems:
“Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books,
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“What avails it that you are a Christian, if you are not purer than the heathen, if you deny yourself no more, if you are not more religious? I know of many systems of religion esteemed heathenish whose precepts fill the reader with shame, and provoke him to new endeavors, though it be to the performance of rites merely.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)