France has announced plans to boost the teaching of the classics in schools.
Jean-Michel Blanquer, the education minister, was joined by his counterparts from Italy, Greece and Cyprus in signing a charter pledging a “global and international strategy for the promotion and development of Latin and ancient Greek”.
Blanquer said that Latin and Greek would be introduced in professional lycées, where sixth-formers study vocational courses to train them for jobs in places such as restaurants, factories, beauty parlours and garages.
He said he wanted these pupils to “develop their culture” by reading authors such as Sophocles.
Blanquer said that his aim was to underline and to strengthen Latin and Greek.