About LFIC
Rooted in French Excellence. Open to the World.
At Lycée Français International de Chennai, we combine the academic rigour of the French National Curriculum with a genuinely bilingual and multicultural environment.
Our aim is to give every student a strong academic foundation while developing the knowledge, skills, independence and values needed to become an engaged global citizen.
LFIC is deliberately small and intentionally bilingual. We believe this creates the conditions for education that is both academically ambitious and genuinely personal.
A legacy in Chennai since 2011
LFIC builds on a longer history of French education in Chennai. The project was established locally in 2011 and has since evolved into the Lycée Français International de Chennai.
The transition to LFIC was led by an experienced team with a long-standing understanding of education in Chennai and the needs of international families. The school’s renewed AEFE accreditation marks a new chapter in this established educational presence.
Our Educational Foundations
French Academic Excellence
Genuine Bilingualism
The French National Curriculum provides a rigorous academic foundation, developing strong subject knowledge, analytical thinking and intellectual independence.
At LFIC, academic ambition means helping students understand, question and reason—not simply prepare for examinations. Critical thinking is literally built into the curriculum. Our students are encouraged to become active, thoughtful learners, equipped to pursue higher education in France, India or elsewhere. LFIC students graduate comfortable with intellectual debate, complexity, and independent thought. Not just good at exams. Good at thinking.
Language is at the heart of learning at LFIC.
French and English are both used as languages of learning and communication throughout the school day. Our approach goes beyond simply adding English to a French curriculum: we progressively build strong academic French alongside confident English.
This bilingual foundation also opens the door to further languages and to a deeper understanding of different cultures and perspectives.
A Multicultural Community
Small by Design
LFIC brings together French, Indian and international families in a diverse school community.
Students encounter different languages, cultures and perspectives as part of everyday school life. This naturally develops the openness, adaptability and intercultural confidence needed to navigate an increasingly connected world, while respecting each child's own cultural and linguistic identity.
LFIC is intentionally small.
Our scale allows teachers to know each child closely, understand how they learn and provide the right balance of support and challenge. Our multi-age classes encourage autonomy, collaboration and peer learning, while giving students opportunities to learn alongside children at different stages of development.
The well-being of students is at the heart of everything we do. French education is not producing kids who study till midnight. It's producing kids who know how to live fully.
Part of the AEFE Network
A school connected to a worldwide educational community.
612 schools · 138 countries · 400,000+ students
4 French schools in India are part of the AEFE network, including Delhi, Mumbai and the 200-years old Lycée International Français de Pondichéry.
Click here to download AEFE Brochure in English
What is the AEFE?
The Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE) is a French public institution, created in 1990 and overseen by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Its role is to coordinate and support the worldwide network of French schools outside France, working with the French Ministry of Education to uphold the standards of the French education system.
You do not need to be French to be part of it. Across the network, around two-thirds of students are of other nationalities.
The network provides a shared educational framework across schools around the world, while allowing each school to remain rooted in its local context. It also brings schools and education professionals together through shared training, collaboration and educational initiatives.
A recognised educational framework
Every school in the network is homologated by the French Ministry of Education. Homologation is an official recognition, reviewed periodically, confirming that a school delivers the French national curriculum in accordance with the standards, teaching objectives and organisational requirements of the French education system. For families, this has a practical significance. It means that the French education your child receives is part of a recognised national system—not a locally adapted version of a French-style programme. A student can move from one homologated school to another, including a school in France, without taking an entrance examination, subject to the availability of places.
What does this mean for your child?
Continuity Your child follows the French national curriculum within a worldwide network of homologated schools. If your family moves, your child's education does not have to begin again from scratch. A recognised academic pathway The French educational pathway leads to the Diplôme National du Brevet and the Baccalaureate—nationally recognised qualifications that provide access to higher education in France, India and many other countries. A network beyond borders With schools in 138 countries, the network gives internationally mobile families access to a shared educational framework across borders. A multicultural education Your child learns within a community of many nationalities and languages, developing openness, adaptability and intercultural understanding.
French education, open to the world
AEFE schools are international by nature. Students come from different national, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and the French curriculum is taught within the culture and context of the host country. It provides a strong educational framework while encouraging children to engage with different languages, cultures and perspectives. For a family in Chennai, this means a French education that respects and connects to where your child is growing up. The network can also create opportunities beyond the individual school. Exchanges and shared projects across French schools abroad can, in time, become part of a student's own international experience.
LFIC within the AEFE network
LFIC is part of this worldwide educational community. For our families, this means that a small, personal school in Chennai is connected to a much larger network, with a shared French curriculum, recognised qualifications and opportunities that extend beyond India.
Small by design. Connected to a worldwide educational community.
Governance & Leadership
LFIC is managed by the French Learnings Initiative Trust and overseen by a dedicated Board of Trustees, supported by two committees covering school management and educational matters.
Parent representatives contribute to these committees, ensuring that family perspectives are part of the school's governance.
Deputy General Manager of Sales at Intelligent Community Management (ICM), Chennai.
With over 20 years of experience in hospitality, food services, business development and operations across India and internationally, including extensive work with education and institutional clients.
Vijay Shankar Rajarathinam
Managing Trustee
Principal of The New School Madurai
Experienced educator with over 30 years in education, including eight years as Head of a Cambridge International school in Chennai.
Sridevi Gopalakrishna Reddy
Trustee
CEO of IFRINA (International Francophone Institute for Research and Training in AI, Neuropedagogy and Didactics, Pondicherry) and President of AIFPRO
With over 24 years of experience in language education, applied didactics and educational innovation, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and neuropedagogy.
Dr Arunkumar Shanthalingam
Trustee
Contact us to discuss the opportunity of schooling your child in LFIC