Issued on: 23.06.2026
Press Release 74/2026
French from the Start: 68 Children Receive Their DELF Prim Certificates
Saarland is number one nationwide when it comes to early French learning. Around 80 percent of all children in Germany who obtain the international language certificate DELF Prim come from Saarland. Today, 68 pupils from the primary schools Kirkel-Neuhäusel, Medelsheim, and Ormesheim received their DELF Prim certificates at the Ministry of Education and Culture, representing more than 1,500 graduates.
State Secretary for Education Jessica Heide handed over the certificates:“Those who learn French also discover the culture, the people, and the way of life of our neighboring country. Exactly these experiences are already made by children in Saarland in primary school. The awarded students have shown with great curiosity and enthusiasm what they can already understand, say, and write in French. The DELF certificate is a well-deserved recognition of this. At the same time, it represents what Saarland’s France strategy stands for: promoting multilingualism, building cultural bridges, and making the close German-French connection tangible from an early age.”
How successful the program is in Saarland is demonstrated by the current figures: In 2026, 1,548 primary school children from Saarland successfully obtained the DELF Prim certificate. This means that a large proportion of the young DELF graduates in Germany come from Saarland.
DELF Prim offers primary school children the opportunity to demonstrate their first French skills in an international language exam and to receive a globally recognized diploma for it. The focus is on the joy of learning languages and the experience of being able to successfully use a foreign language at an early stage. The skills tested are listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
In Saarland, the program is implemented by the Institut d’Études Françaises Saarbrücken together with the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Institut Français Deutschland, and France Éducation international. Participation is free of charge for all children taking French lessons from grade 1 onwards and ensures that all students, regardless of their social background, have the opportunity to obtain an internationally recognized language certificate.
