As part of the Pact for Excellence in Teaching, language learning in the French Community of Belgium will be offered earlier in the school career: from the start of the 2023-2024 school year, Modern Language I will be compulsory from the third year of primary school.

In the Brussels-Capital Region and in some Walloon communes with a special linguistic status, Modern Language I was already compulsory from the age of 8.  From September 2023, this will be the case everywhere in the French Community.

On the other hand, the learning of Dutch or German could be imposed in Wallonia as in Brussels, from the third year of primary school, from the start of the school year 2027-2028.  This idea has been put forward by the Minister of Education of the French Community.

Source: Eurydice Unit Belgium - French Speaking Community