Indonesia’s surprise Portuguese push: diplomatic ploy or educational priority?
Some say Portuguese learning ‘makes sense’ near East Timor, but experts warn that rolling it out nationwide could take over a decade
“As a sign of how important Brazil is to us, I have decided that Portuguese will become one of the priority languages taught in schools,” Prabowo said during a joint press conference in Jakarta on October 23, announcing that he would instruct the country’s education ministers to design the new curriculum.
Portuguese would join English, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, German and Russian as “priority” languages in the nation’s schools and universities, he added.
The announcement was followed by a joint communique on an “educational cooperation framework”, with both countries pledging to develop “academic mobility and institutional partnerships to deepen people-to-people ties”.
The government’s stated intent is to broaden students’ foreign language skills and enhance Indonesia’s global engagement. “I hope that during this visit to Indonesia, and during our meetings, we can ensure political, economic, social and scientific benefits for the Indonesian people and for the Brazilian people,” Prabowo said.