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he Education and Culture Ministry says that international schools must make adjustmentsto their curriculum as stipulated by a new ministerial decree issued on April23.

Education and Culture Ministerial Decree No. 31/2014 on the cooperation andmanagement of foreign education institutions with Indonesian educationinstitutions stipulates that educators at international schools must beregistered with the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry and the Education andCulture Ministry, Antara news agency reported.

Furthermore, the Education and Culture Ministry'€™s director general of earlychildhood education programs, Lydia Freyani Hawadi, said that teachers atinternational schools must also be proficient in Indonesian, as stipulated by Manpowerand Transmigration Ministry laws.

She explained that they must be proficient in the language because Indonesianstudents studying at international schools must take four compulsory subjects:religious studies, Indonesian language, history and citizenship studies.

"The teacher's education must be suited to the subject they teach,"Lydia told reporters onFriday.

A school's curriculum must also be adjusted to national standards, and foreignstudents must be taught cultural studies, she said.

Furthermore, Lydia emphasized that international schools could not be fullyowned by foreign stakeholders, as the law stipulates that foreigners can only own49 percent of a school. The school must also be able to prove that it has enoughcapital to run the school for the next six years.

"Most importantly, there will no longer be 'international schools'. Theymust change their names," she explained.

Lydia said that the ministry had held talks with 44 schools to discuss the newministerial decree, adding that a majority of the schools did not have anyaccreditation.

If a school does not comply with the ministry's demands, the school management couldbe sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined Rp 1 billion (US$86,000) under LawNo. 20/2003 on the national education system. (fss)