Education special: a decentralised system with high standards for private as well as public schools, Swiss education did not seem apt to change. Nevertheless, education in Switzerland is now undergoing one of the biggest changes in history.

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The Swiss have taken education a long way since famous Swiss pedagogue Pestalozzi identified 'the hands, heart and head' as central elements in 18th-century education. For the better part of two centuries--dating from Pestalozzi's How Gertrude Teaches Her Children, written in 1801--the system evolved step by step, but today, its very structure is being transformed at a dazzling speed.

Primary and secondary level schools are getting new national standards. For the first time in history, the cantons are giving up a bit of their cherished autonomy in favour ...

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