London, UK (Antara) - The Indonesian Embassy in London, England, has introduced Indonesian at schools in the UK following rising public interest to learn the language, according to a statement from the embassy received by Antara here, Thursday.
Indonesian Ambassador to the UK and Ireland Rizal Sukma stated that the embassy had, since long, been holding an Indonesian learning program at the embassy every weekend.
"We are certainly grateful to witness the local people's interest in learning Indonesian over the years. The teachers are able to teach Indonesian as a foreign language," he remarked.
Counsellor for Education and Culture at the Embassy Prof. E. Aminudin Aziz noted that during the summer of 2017, the embassy will invite two Indonesian teachers from the homeland to teach the Indonesian language, culture, and crafts as part of an integrated study program.
Two schools in London have expressed interest to include Indonesian as a subject: Whitefield School in Northwest London that will teach Indonesian at the middle school level and St. Matthew's CE Primary School for elementary school level.
Principal at Whitefield Elisabeth Rymer expressed delight over the embassy's offer to teach Indonesian at the school.
"We know Indonesia is a large, populous country having unique cultures," she said.
Principal at St. Matthew's Rachel Jewitt was also pleased with the learning program.
"We are a multiethnic school. Currently, 12 foreign languages are taught in our schools. Our students come from more than 20 countries. Coincidently, the embassy is now adjacent to our school," she said.
During the first stage, Indonesian language will be taught at both schools during the two quarters until the end of December 2017 as part of a pilot phase.
In recent years, national-level exams called the International Graduate Certificate of Secondary Education, under the coordination of Cambridge International Test, have been held in England for Indonesian language.(*)
