Cerniat (French: [sɛʁnja]; Arpitan: Cèrniê [ˈθɛrɲa] ⓘ) is a former municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.

[4] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Bend Argent between an Orb in chief and a Cattle in base Or.

[3] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (294 or 88.6%) as their first language, German is the second most common (32 or 9.6%) and Italian is the third (1 or 0.3%).

[3] The historical population is given in the following chart:[2][10] The Chartreuse De La Valsainte is listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire La Valsainte area is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[11] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 37.2% of the vote.

[3] There were 168 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 33.9% of the workforce.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 24, of which 23 were in agriculture and 1 was in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 3 were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 were in a hotel or restaurant and 3 were in education.

[3] From the 2000 census[update], 304 or 91.6% were Roman Catholic, while 12 or 3.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs.

After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.

[16] During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 28 students attending 2 classes in Cerniat.