Your comments on the government’s plan to scrap English lessons from the elementary school curriculum, starting next year:

It will leave our nation far behind other countries.

Tri Aryanti

How come? English is the lingua franca, the window of the world. The government should reconsider its decision.

Which lessons are important and which aren’t? Sports and health lessons should be included in extra-curricular activity.

Saeeful Mogabe

According to the news, the Education and Culture Ministry plans to omit English from the new curriculum for the sake of studying Indonesian. I really disagree with it.

The omission of English will not necessarily improve children’s ability to speak Indonesian.

Herry Susanto

It’s not necessary for the government to do so!

Muhammad Hakiky

Our education ministry has been sleeping soundly on the job! Don’t they know that our workers abroad lead miserable lives due to not knowing English?

Why don’t you just say if you are tired of leading our education system. It needs a lot of improvements, especially in the English language. Simply send our “English teachers-to-be” to the Philippines where people are eager to speak English. No wonder Filipino workers are preferred abroad due to them being easier to communicate with to
receive instructions.

Businessmen may not speak Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean or any other language; but if they speak English adequately they can go anywhere in the world and do business without any problems.

I see no problem at all in having English taught at elementary school level.

I am sure our minister would send his own children/relatives to educational institutions where English is taught side-by-side with Indonesian.

The pressure to remove English from our curriculum is another kind of colonialism, or a means toward that direction.

The mastering of the English language is a means for us to progress and compete globally.

M. Adikoesoemo
Jakarta

I bet the minister wants to make Arabic a mandatory language instead.

Devi Sri

For kindergartens I can understand, but to remove English from elementary schools is not the right decision. English in Indonesia is at a very low standard, it helps kids to get better positions in later life.

Luckily we still have private schools although they are only for people that can afford them. I’m surprised the word haram is used. Please wake up and join the modern world, the more I read the more I think Indonesia is going backward.

Peter Verduin

There are plenty of opinions on why this is such a ludicrous decision. But it’s worse to think that this decision has come from someone who is in charge of education in Indonesia. It’s down right scary!

Patricia Houston

Forever missed: Future children who will never understand the content of this article.

Catharina

Indonesians do not need English, math and science at primary school. Will Muslim schools be not allowed to teach Arabic too?

This new plan is one small step backward for Musliar Kaslim, but it is a one giant leap backward for Indonesia.

It is about time for Indonesia to learn something from successful societies in the East or West. I feel pity for all those millions of ignorant youths in the streets of Indonesia’s cities and towns.

They vote for such governments because of their ignorance.

Now, the government is doing its best to be elected by the ignorant masses again.

Ronen Skaletzky

“Elementary schools won’t have English lessons because [students] haven’t even learned to understand the Indonesian language yet,” Musliar said on Wednesday.

I went to elementary school in the US and I dare say my Indonesian is better than my peers that grew up learning Indonesian in school (my Indonesian national exam score was the highest in my school and I
won awards in Indonesian writing contests throughout my years in school). Personally, I think it’s not what they should teach, but how it should be taught. Indonesian should be taught to stimulate a love for reading and an appreciation for literature (like I experienced in my school abroad).

By omitting English, parents will have to spend more on English courses because whether we like it or not, English proficiency is an important element for being competitive these days. Omitting the opportunity to start early is a pity.

Monica RS

No matter how we interpret this decision, it is such an appalling idea to be shared in public.

Aris Stone

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