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View all search resultsDoubts cloud Prabowo’s Portuguese language push
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Students listen to their teacher at a classroom of SMAN 70 Jakarta state senior high school in South Jakarta on April 14, 2025. (Antara/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
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s the government prepares to make English a compulsory subject in schools, President Prabowo Subianto has said he plans to add Portuguese to the list of elective language programs, although observers have questioned the urgency and relevance of the plan for students.
Prabowo announced his intention to have schools start teaching Portuguese following a bilateral meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Jakarta last week.
Although Prabowo gave few details as to how Portuguese would be introduced into the school curriculum, Second Deputy Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Atip Latipulhayat has said the plan is “certainly doable”, Tempo.co reported. Atip said foreign languages other than English, such as Japanese, German and Arabic, were already offered in some schools as elective subjects and that Portuguese could also be added onto the list.
Hetifah Sjaifudian, chairperson of House of Representatives Commission X, which oversees education, said lawmakers would support policies aimed at boosting Indonesian students’ global competitiveness. But she also questioned whether the inclusion of Portuguese as a priority language had a clear rationale.
“[The government] needs to ensure the teaching of Portuguese, like other foreign languages, is grounded in a clear foundation in terms of strategic benefits, whether in diplomatic relations or its relevance to students’ future needs,” she told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Ubaid Matraji of the Network for Education Watch Indonesia (JPPI), also known as NEW Indonesia, dismissed Prabowo’s statement as a mere diplomatic gesture to please Brazil’s president rather than a policy grounded in serious consideration.
“It’s more of a diplomatic courtesy to honor and please the visiting head of state. It’s hard to believe that such a significant policy was decided just because of a diplomatic meeting or without the proper academic study,” he said on Sunday.
