In the age of globalization where the world has taken the form of a global village, the geographical boundaries have been surpassed by the transcendental reach of the virtual world and technological advancement. As such, the differences among the gazillion communities which constitute the world population have come to grow commonalities which unite them in a thread. English has come up as the global language in the wake of globalization and has spread across lands where the language was not spoken before.
The spread of English as a global language is extremely significant for the process of cooperation among the nations as it serves as the binding force and the language of communication. Under such circumstances, the decision of the government of Indonesia to eliminate the study of English from primary schools across the nation is not farsighted at all.
Such a nationwide initiative would have an enormous effect on the educational skills of so many children of the land. The education policy has been triggered off due to the perspective which comprehends the failure of the students in being well-versed in Bahasa language. Although the language serves as the uniting force in the nation which glues together the communities, the importance of English and the requirement of knowing the language well from a very tender age cannot be turned a blind eye to. Also, the learning skills of children are at prime in the early years of schooling. So, a foreign language like English should be taught right from the beginning of the years at school as their learning capabilities are at their best.
Moreover, the shortcomings of the students in excelling in Bahasa should not be unduly blamed on the presence of English in the curriculum. Rather, this might have happened due to incompetence of teaching. At any cost, studying English should not be compromised for making the students with get inclined toward nationalism and religion. Shunning English from the curriculum would weaken the children in their basic knowledge of the subject and when they would start studying the subject in junior high schools, they might not become proficient enough to be at par with people across the globe knowing the language and communicating in it regularly.
The government needs to comprehend that elimination of a foreign language from the curriculum to be replaced by other subjects cannot be the way forward for the future generations. Rather, the population needs to be knowledgeable in the global language apart from being fluent in Bahasa to be successful in the future. The government needs to think of ways to achieve the right balance so that the nation does not fall behind in the global hierarchy of development. Not knowing English well would hinder the prosperity of the future generations and would be a big blow for the nation in the globalized society.
Works Cited
“Finding a Balance Between English and Bahasa Indonesia.” JakartaGlobe. n.p., 25 Oct. 2012.
Web. 10 Sep. 2013.
