Prabowo Pushes for French to Be Taught in Schools, PDIP: Needs Thorough Study

President Prabowo Subianto instructed that French be taught in Indonesian schools during his meeting with President Emmanuel Macron. PDIP Central Executive Council Chairman Andreas Hugo Pareira said the school curriculum should determine this. “Regarding language preferences, I think it should be up to the school curriculum to decide. We shouldn’t have a situation where meeting a foreign leader automatically makes their language a compulsory subject,” Andreas Hugo Pareira said at Novotel Mangga Dua, North Jakarta, on Saturday, 30 May 2026. Andreas noted that the school curriculum already determines which languages are important. He also believes strengthening Indonesian language education is still needed. “I believe the curriculum already specifies which languages are important. French is indeed a global language, and if schools choose to offer it, that’s fine,” he added. “But if it becomes compulsory, we need to focus on English and strengthen Indonesian. That, I think, is most crucial for language education.” However, Andreas stated that French is an important global language. He noted that English is currently the mandatory foreign language. “In our education curriculum, English has already been established as a mandatory language for students. French can be an optional subject, as can Mandarin, Japanese, and others. These would be additional curriculum options,” he said. PDIP Central Executive Council member Djarot Saiful Hidayat responded to Andreas’ comments, stating that it shouldn’t automatically become compulsory just because the president visits a country. “Regarding this, Andreas is right that French is important. But it shouldn’t automatically become a compulsory subject in all schools just because the president visited France,” Djarot said. Djarot gave an example: if the president visits Africa and mandates African languages. He said a thorough study is needed to determine which foreign languages should be taught. “Then if he goes to Africa, we must teach African languages? That doesn’t make sense,” he added. “A thorough assessment is needed to determine which foreign languages our children should learn, which are compulsory and which optional. English could be compulsory, while French, Dutch, Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese could be electives,” he said. Djarot said the decision on which foreign languages to teach should be left to schools and the Ministry of Education. He also stressed the need to change the top-down approach. “Let schools and the ministry assess what’s most important to teach. We must change the approach so decisions aren’t simply imposed from the top. The bottom-up perspective must also be heard,” he added. Previously, Prabowo stated he had instructed all Indonesian schools to teach French, citing future global developments. Prabowo made the statement during his visit to the Élysée Palace in Paris on Thursday, 28 May, in front of Macron. “I have now instructed that all levels of Indonesian schools must learn French, in light of future global developments,” Prabowo said.