The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology has issued a clarification regarding the rumors that English has been removed from the public school curriculum in Indonesia. The ministry stated that English is still taught as a foreign language in elementary, junior high and senior high schools across the country.
The clarification was made in response to a viral TikTok video by Riska Ade Cyntia (@riskacyntia), a mother who is at a crossroads between enrolling her child in a private or public elementary school.
In the video, Riska cited a nondescript news article, dated June 9, that English language studies will be removed as a mandatory subject from the national curriculum from 2023/34 onwards so that students can prioritize learning Bahasa Indonesia.
Riska seems to have ignored the nuances of the news, believing that English would be removed altogether from public schools. She then appears to contemplate enrolling her daughter in a private school that provides English lessons, in order to prepare her for an increasingly globalized world.
The ministry has responded to the viral video, clarifying that English has not been completely removed from the public school curriculum.
The ministry’s Curriculum Development Coordinator Yogi Anggraena told Kompas that English is now an optional subject – it may be taught at public schools provided the school has a qualified English teacher.
“The government has even procured reports and textbooks [for English],” he said.
The fact that English is not a mandatory subject is itself a controversial topic. The subject was mandatory at primary and secondary education levels under the 2003 National Education System Law. However, the Ministry of Education lifted the requirement for primary education in a 2013 ministerial regulation.
The draft for an omnibus education bill, last modified in late 2022, does not include English as a mandatory subject either, prompting backlash from educators.
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