Portuguese Will Be Taught in Schools? The West Java Education Office Begins Assessing Teacher Readiness

BANDUNG - The West Java Provincial Education Office (Disdik Jabar) stated that it will review the readiness of human resources (HR) teachers if Portuguese is officially included in the national curriculum, as announced by President Prabowo Subianto.

"Are there any teachers? Teachers must be proficient. How can they teach if they can't? There must be training. And this must be considered because this has just been rolled out and is still being reviewed by the ministry," said the Head of the West Java Education Office, Purwanto, when confirmed in Bandung by Antara on Friday, October 31.

Purwanto said that although the policy is still under review by the central government, his office will be prepared if Portuguese is indeed designated as a new subject.

"Yes, if it becomes a national policy, we must implement it gradually. Of course, we will prepare the infrastructure, prepare human resources, and other consequences. So, we will just wait. If ordered to use Portuguese, we will do our best to implement it to the best of our ability," he said.

Previously, President Prabowo Subianto announced his plan to introduce Portuguese as a subject in schools.

Prabowo revealed this plan during a bilateral meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the State Palace on Thursday, November 23rd.

Prabowo believes that introducing Portuguese is important for strengthening relations between Indonesia and Brazil. Furthermore, this step is expected to be part of efforts to improve the quality of bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly in the fields of education and culture.