Goverment speaks up for use of English in schools

The recent government policy allowing the use of English in teaching several subjects in high schools and universities is the hot issue among educators and students. The Jakarta Post's reporters Johannes Simbolon, Sugianto Tandra, Ida Indawati Khouw, Sylvia Gratia M. Nirang and Yogita Tahil Rahmani compiled the following reports. Photos are by IGGP Bayu Ismoyo.

JAKARTA (JP): Teaching English in English is old news. But the sudden prospect of students grappling with other subjects taught in the language has become a matter of intense interest and some controversy.

While local youngsters sing by heart top English-language hits and eagerly try to keep up with MTV veejays in hip-speak, they have not been exposed to the language as widely as their counterparts in the Philippines, Malaysia or Singapore.

On Feb. 26, then education and culture minister Wardiman Djojonegoro announced the government would allow use of English in teaching several subjects at junior and senior high schools and universities.

He continued that the use of English was permitted for designated subjects, including mathematics and physics, at junior and senior high schools and up to 50 percent of subjects at universities.

The policy was designed to better prepare students for competition in the international labor market, he added.

Many educators and students, even those from top high schools and universities, consider the policy encouraging on paper, but, unsurprisingly, believe it to be far from feasible in practice.

Most schools and universities in the nation still find it difficult to recruit teachers sufficiently qualified in teaching English.

Educators say because the main objective of teaching is to make students master a skill, lecturing in English would only be effective if both lecturers and their students were already proficient in the language.

Amid the government's current enthusiasm to promote English, there is fear among some that this may lead to a lesser love of Indonesian -- and weaker nationalism.

"I am happy with the government's policy and we fully realize that English is a real necessity for our students. But we are not 100 percent ready yet to use English as the medium in lecturing," said Rudolf Sinaga, head of the research and development department at the private Indonesian Business Institute (IBI) in Jakarta.

"I am not sure that universities in Indonesia -- most if not all -- will be ready to go for the use of English in lectures," Soenjono Dardjowidjojo, a linguist at Atma Jaya University, told The Jakarta Post.

Soenjono, speaking from his experience of tutoring postgraduate students, said even lecturers of the English language at Indonesian universities were not well-equipped for the new policy. Although they can communicate in English, their skills are inadequate in teaching the subject.

Students are particularly confused over why the government chose maths as one of the permitted subjects.

Andrini, 18, who just graduated from SMUN III high school in Setia Budi, South Jakarta, said students were already capable in the subject. "Maths being taught in English does not make sense to me. It is such a waste."

Maya, 24, in her last semester in the School of Political Science at the University of Indonesia, said: "I don't understand why of all subjects, the policy emphasizes teaching maths in English. It has its own language which is used worldwide such as cosine, sine ... Students don't need the English language to understand it."

The policy may seem rough around the edges at present, but its introduction is a clear statement of the government's belief in the importance of mastering the language.

It is repeatedly drummed into us that proficiency in English will increasingly be a must for all given tougher competition looming in the future.

Officials lament the failure of many graduates of local universities to compete with job seekers from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and India for white-collar jobs here.

With the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) scheduled for 2003, the government frets that many Indonesian graduates will be jobless in their home country, wistfully watching at foreigners grab most of the choice positions. And the country may still be sending poorly educated workers abroad for menial jobs.

First and foremost, English proficiency is vital as it is spoken by some 300 million people as their mother tongue. Soenjono cited another 1.3 billion people who use it as a second language in countries like India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nigeria, Kenya, Singapore, Pakistan, Tanzania and Zambia.

Second, he said, the use of English was widespread on four continents.

The language is also used as the recognized medium for science and technology.

English-speaking countries also control the world's economy, and these nations are also politically dominant.

Subsidy

Soenjono said Indonesia, as a former Dutch colony, was "less lucky" than countries like Malaysia, Singapore, India and the Philippines which were exposed to English by their colonizers.

Soenjono urged the government to act now to improve English skills here even though he recognized possible complications.

He stressed that teaching and lecturing in English was not a good solution for the time being.

Some educators propose that the government must first focus on the improvement of English teaching in junior and senior high schools. But Soenjono said this was impossible because of the large budget needed to improve school facilities and other educational infrastructure.

Measure

In his view, the most realistic measure for the government to adopt would be to subsidize English courses for interested students.

Defenders of the Indonesian language have denounced the government's move.

Kunardi Hardjoprawiro, a lecturer of literature at the Sebelas Maret University in Surakarta, Central Java, bluntly stated in his recent article in Kompas daily that the policy was against the country's doctrine to use Bahasa Indonesia as the official language in all forums, including education.

He noted that Bahasa Indonesia had developed expansively so that it could be used as an effective medium for science and technology. He also described the irony of the new policy with the growing awareness of the importance of Bahasa Indonesia in the international world. In several countries, including Australia, people learn the language in schools.

"Is the Indonesian language not respectable enough? Does the Indonesian language not give enough pride?" he asked.

Try telling that to parents worrying that their children's future hinges on English skills. Before the crisis hit, many had enrolled their kids in expensive schools promising that their graduates would be proficient in the international language.

Actress and teleserial producer Marrisa Haque Fawzi is among those parents who want their children to be more adept in English than themselves.

"I want my children focusing not only on vocabulary, but also on conversational skills ... I want them to learn arts, computers, prayers in English," she said of her two daughters, aged nine and 11 years.

Sonia Rahardjo, another parent whose nine-year-old attends Global Jaya School in Bintaro, south of here, wants her child "prepared to learn the arts, sciences and humanities in English" in case she wants to study abroad in the future.

Daughter Sharmila, she says, should be able to use English or any other internationally-spoken language "to express her thoughts effectively, actuating in a language used by the international community".