Teachers' Association Criticises Prabowo's French Mandate Proposal

The Teachers’ Association (P2G) has criticised President Prabowo Subianto’s proposal to make French a compulsory subject in Indonesian schools. P2G coordinator Satriwan Salim said the President’s directive was unclear and merely diplomatic lip service, as it was made without clear justification.

Moreover, the President previously requested Portuguese language classes a year ago. It is possible that future meetings with Japanese leaders could lead to sudden demands for Japanese language in the curriculum. “If President Prabowo holds another bilateral meeting with Japan, he may add Japanese to the curriculum. A meeting with China could lead to Mandarin becoming compulsory, and returning from the Netherlands might see Dutch added,” Satriwan stated on Friday (29 May). “Education management cannot be handled so lightly,” he added.

Satriwan argued that the government cannot formulate education policies outside the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2025-2029, meaning French and Portuguese learning are not priorities under the established plan. Secondly, mandating French across all school levels—from primary to secondary—would only increase curriculum burden, as the national curriculum is already densely packed with subjects, Satriwan said. “Assuming two teachers per school for French and Portuguese across approximately 240,000 primary and secondary schools, 480,000 foreign language teachers would be needed,” he said.

According to Satriwan, French and other foreign languages such as Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, German, and Japanese are already optional subjects for interested students, included in the national curriculum since the 2006 curriculum up to the current Merdeka Curriculum. In vocational high schools (SMK) specialising in hospitality and tourism, non-English foreign languages are part of specialised skill programmes. “In May 2026, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology plans to launch a Non-English Foreign Language Certification Programme covering Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, German, and French. The scheme is already open, targeting 13,000 students across over 120 vocational schools,” he said.

Therefore, Satriwan said P2G believes the urgent priority should be improving students’ basic skills in English, Indonesian, and mathematics from primary school, rather than mandating French or Portuguese. He cited disappointing results from the 2025 High School Academic Competency Test (TKA), with average scores of 24.93 in English, 36.10 in mathematics, and 55.38 in Indonesian. “Rather than forcing French and Portuguese into all school levels, the government must urgently address students’ poor performance in mathematics, English, and Indonesian,” he said.

Prabowo issued the directive during his state visit to Paris, France on Thursday (28 May), instructing Indonesian schools to implement French as a subject. In his speech at the Elysee Palace, Paris, Prabowo said he had visited France three times this year, claiming the bilateral relationship was strong and seeking to enhance cooperation in science, technology, and education. “I have instructed all Indonesian schools to learn French, considering future global developments,” Prabowo said in a video of his speech released by the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday evening (28 May).