Medium of instruction

In different countries and regions

Africa

• In Tanzania, Swahili is used in primary schools and adult education, whereas English is used in secondary schools and universities.
• In Zimbabwe, use of English, Shona and Ndebele is established in education until the fourth grade; from the fourth grade, English is the medium of instruction.
• In South Africa, students are taught primarily in their home language from Grade Zero up to Grade 3. From Grade 4 onwards, English is the default language of learning and teaching, except for a minority of schools in which Afrikaans is used. The national curriculum requires that all students study at least two official languages as separate subjects, one of which must be studied at home language level and the other at least at first additional language level. The most common home language among the school population is isiZulu.
• In the francophone states of Africa, education has typically been in French only.
• In Ethiopia, English is the medium of instruction in secondary schools and universities

  Western Hemisphere

Brazil

Canada

• In Canada, almost all public schools use either English or French as the medium of instruction; French is standard in the province of Quebec and, along with English, in New Brunswick. The official language not used as the primary medium of instruction is taught as a mandatory subject in primary school and becomes optional for most secondary school students. Many public and private school systems in English jurisdictions also offer French immersion. In parts of Canada such as the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, some aboriginal languages, such as Inuinnaqtun and Tłı̨chǫ, are also used in local school systems. Heritage languages are as also common across Canada in public and private schools.

  United States

Asia

• In Azerbaijan, Azeri is the main language of instruction. Instruction in Russian and to a lesser extent in English at both secondary and postsecondary level is also offered in some educational institutions. Georgian is the language of instruction in secondary schools in the Georgian-populated northern regions. Education was conducted in Armenian in some secondary schools until the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
• In Bangladesh, Bengali and English are used as mediums of instruction. In universities, the medium of education is mainly English.
• In the People's Republic of China, Standard Chinese is used as the medium of instruction in most schools. In elementary and secondary schools for ethnic minorities, the minority languages, such as Mongolian, Tibetan and Korean, are also used.
• In Georgia, most schools conduct education in Georgian. The number of Azerbaijani schools is being reduced.
• In Hong Kong which was a British colony until 1997, either English or Cantonese is the medium in most schools at the primary and secondary level. EMI schools adopt English as the medium of instruction for almost all classes. CMI schools generally adopt Cantonese as the medium of instruction, but a significant number of CMI schools use English for high school courses. English is used almost exclusively at the tertiary level.
• In Israel, Hebrew is the medium in most schools, and Arabic is the medium in elementary and secondary schools for the Arab minority. Hebrew is used almost exclusively at the tertiary level.
• In India, the medium of instruction varies among English, Hindi and the respective states’ official languages. Private schools usually prefer English, and government schools tend to go with one of the last two. However, the medium of instruction in colleges and universities is always either English, Hindi or a regional language. The medium of education is also dependent upon the state and its official language.
• *In Assam, Assamese or English is used.
• *In West Bengal, Bengali or English is used.
• *In Karnataka, Kannada or English is used.
• *In Goa, English or Konkani is used.
• *In Gujarat, Gujarati or English is used.
• *In Maharashtra, English or Marathi is used.
• *In Andhra Pradesh, Telugu or English is used. Some schools also use Sanskrit.
• *In Telangana, Telugu, or English is used.
• *In Tamil Nadu, Tamil and/or English being used.
• *In Kerala, Malayalam or English is used.
• *In Odisha, Odia or English is used.
• In Japan, Japanese is used in most schools.
• In South and North Korea, Korean is used in most schools.
• In Macau, Cantonese is used as the medium of instruction in many schools. Portuguese is used in Portugal-backed schools. English, which is not an official language of the region, is also used in a lot of schools.
• In Pakistan, most public schools use Urdu, but private schools have English as medium of instruction. English was made medium of instruction in 18 colleges in 2008.
• *Government of the Punjab Notification No. PS/SSE/Misc/2009/176 dated 18-09-2009 required for the subjects of science and mathematics to be taught in English in each school.
• In Taiwan, Standard Chinese is used as the medium of instruction in most schools, with more Taiwanese Hokkien presence in schools.

  South East Asia

• In Philippines, English is the primary medium of instruction from preschool to university. In some schools, Filipino is used for certain subjects such as Filipino and Philippines History.
• In Singapore, in pre-schools children learn in two languages: English and a mother tongue: Chinese, Malay or Tamil. The medium of instruction is English in all schools following the national curriculum except in "mother-tongue" subjects. International and private schools may use other languages. See also Special Assistance Plan.
• In Cambodia, Khmer is the medium in most schools, including universities.
• In Vietnam, Vietnamese is the medium in most schools, including universities.
• In Thailand, Thai is the medium in most schools, including universities.
• In Laos, Lao is the medium in most schools, including universities.
• In Malaysia, Malay is the medium of instruction in most schools. However, there are also Chinese and Indian schools serving the respective communities, which are allowed to use Mandarin and Tamil respectively as a medium of instruction, but Malay is still required to be taught as a subject. English-medium schools were present during the colonial period but were slowly phased out after independence. Today, all the former English-medium schools have since been converted to Malay-medium schools. Nevertheless, English continues to be a compulsory subject in all Malaysian schools.

  Australia and Oceania

• In Australia, most schools use English. However, in the State of Victoria, there are a number of schools that teach in Greek and Italian. A number of schools also teach in French, Irish, Chinese, Arabic and Japanese.
• In New Zealand, English is used in many schools, but more and more kohanga reo and kura kaupapa are using Māori instead.
• In Vanuatu, English and French are the main languages of education.

  Europe

• In Belarus, Russian is the main language of instruction. While schools using Belarusian schools are 53%, they are located mostly in rural areas, and the share of students who receive instruction in Belarusian is as low as 18%.
• In Belgium, Dutch and French are used.
• In Croatia, besides Croatian-language education, education of the representatives of national minorities is carried out in 24 elementary schools, and the program is conducted in the language and writing of a relevant national minority, 61 elementary schools having classes with such programs.
• In Estonia, as of 2011, there were 463 Estonian-medium schools, 62 Russian-medium schools and 36 mixed medium schools, 25% of vocational education being in Russian while the remainder Estonian. In higher education, 90.2% is in Estonian, 7.8% in Russian and 1.85% in English.
• In Finland, Finnish is the language used in most schools, but Swedish, also an official national language, is used in a number of schools along the coast and Abo Akademi. The right to education in Swedish is based in the constitution. There are also a few schools in which education is given, to some extent, in Sami in the north. See also Mandatory Swedish.
• In France, legislation restricts languages other than French in state schools. Other languages of France are the medium of instruction in non-state schools such as Diwan Breton language-medium schools and the Calandretas in the south that use Occitan. See Language policy in France
• In Iceland, Icelandic is used at all levels of education. English is the first secondary language to be taught, with Danish also required later. Some universities teach in part in English in topics popular with foreigners.
• In Ireland, English is used in most schools with a growing number of gaelscoileanna using Irish.
• In Italy, while Italian is official language throughout the territory, also French is official in Valle D'Aosta, German in South Tirol.
• In Latvia, Latvian is used in most schools. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, education is available in eight national minority languages: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Hebrew and Romani. Boris Tsilevitch, politician and former chair of PACE sub-commission on minorities, notes that all minority schools offer education in either Latvian or Russian, with corresponding minority language and culture taught as subjects. The network of Russian-language schools is being reduced. Some Polish-language schools were created after restoration of independence. Education in public minority high schools is conducted mostly in Latvian since 2004 despite wide protests.
• In Lithuania, as at 2004/2005, 91.3% of pupils studied in Lithuanian, 5.3% in Russian and 3.6% in Polish in general education schools.
• In Moldova, Moldovan is used, but Russian is slowly being introduced.
• In North Macedonia, the state is obliged by Ohrid Agreement to provide university level education in languages spoken by at least 20% of the population
• In Norway, the medium of instruction is Norwegian. The state undertakes to provide a substantial part of preschool education in Sami, at least pupils whose families request it in sufficient numbers.
• In Poland, the medium of instruction in most schools is Polish. However, in areas where national or ethnic minorities reside, there are as well public schools with minority language of instruction, or schools which offers classes of the minority language.
• In Romania, the medium of instruction is mostly Romanian, but the state undertakes to provide education in minority languages up to the following levels. In Russian, it is a substantial part of preschool education, at least to those pupils whose families request it in sufficient numbers. In Bulgarian and Czech, it is a substantial part of primary education. In Croatian, it is a substantial part of secondary education. In Serbian, Turkish, Ukrainian and Slovak, it is secondary education. In German and Hungarian, it is higher education. There are also international schools where the medium of instruction is English.
• In Russia, Russian is dominating in education. Approximately 6% of students learn at school in minority languages. Besides, some tertiary education establishments use Tatar as a language of instruction alongside Russian.
• In Slovakia, education in minority languages must be provided in municipalities if Slovak citizens speaking respective language are more than 20% of population: higher, technical and vocational education in Hungarian, a substantial part of technical and vocational education in Ruthenian and Ukrainian, a substantial part of preschool education for those pupils whose families request it in sufficient numbers in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Polish and Roma.
• In Slovenia, the general medium of instruction is Slovene. In areas with the Hungarian ethnic minority, bilingual instruction in Slovene and Hungarian is compulsory. In the Italian ethnic community area, basic education can be provided in Slovene or Italian.
• In Switzerland, German, French, Italian and/or Romansh are used in most schools.
• In Ukraine since the 2017 law "On Education" is language of instruction in Ukrainian schools is the state language, which is Ukrainian.

• In the United Kingdom, English is mostly used.
• *In the Isle of Man, English is used, but Manx is being revived with one Manx-medium school at St. John’s.
• *In Scotland, English is the primary language of instruction but Gaelic medium education is also available. There is little or no use of Lowland Scots as a medium of education.
• *In Wales, most schools teach in English, but more and more teach in Welsh.
• *In Cornwall, Cornish is used in some schools that otherwise teach in English.