Mode of Education in France

The French education system is remarkably organized, and quite similar to Singapore's education system, are divided into 3 stages. Primary education, secondary education and lastly higher education. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment, France's education system is ranked at 25th position in the world. This puts them at an average with regards to the ruling of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).The schools providing primary and secondary education are mainly public schools. As for the private schools, they are usually engaging in Catholic education. For higher education, France has further subset it into public universities and Grandes écoles. Grandes écoles has a selective screening for the admission of students. But in the case of public universities, as long as you obtained the baccalaureat (an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of high school), you can get into the public universities.

The history of the development of the French education system was credited to Charlemagne (Charles the Great). However, the modern mode of education was revolutionised by Jules Ferry. He is a lawyer situated in the office of Minister of Public Instruction in the 1880s and also created the Republican school by making it mandatory for children below the age of 15 to attend school. This is pretty similar to Singapore's education of making it compulsory for children to at least graduate with a Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) certification.

Jules Ferry