70,000 Australian School Students Improve Understanding of Asia

At least 70,000 Australian school students have enriched their knowledge of Asia under Australia’s Leading 21^st Century Schools: Engage with Asia (L21CS) program.

The program, launched on 20 May 2008 by Australian Minister for Education and Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, has since reached over 6,000 teachers and 70,000 students. The program is designed to strengthen the commitment of school communities to promote greater understanding of Asia. Studies of Indonesia and the Indonesian language are a priority under the program, which includes a website - Go Indonesia! (http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/sites/goindonesia/index.htm) developed for use by Australian students in the classroom or at home during their middle years of schooling.

Australian Ambassador Bill Farmer said the L21CS program represented “a major step forward in promoting better understanding of Asia by young Australians. Strengthening Australian’s understanding of Asia is a key to strengthening people-to-people relationships, especially with close neighbours such as Indonesia.”

A forum held on 24 August in Canberra highlighted the success of the program. Participants in the program demonstrated a significant improvement in the understanding of Asia within the schools involved. Underlining the significance of Indonesian studies to the program, Indonesia’s Ambassador to Australia, HE Mr Primo Alui Joelianto, was a keynote speaker at the Forum.

Andrew Blair, President of the Australian Secondary Principals Association, said Australia “needs cultural literacy, we need Asian literacy.” He vowed Australian school principals and school communities would continue to promote an Asian literacy among the next generation of Australian leaders.

The Australian Government has committed funding of $62.4 million over four years (2008–09 to 2011–12) for the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program (NALSSP). The aim of the program is to increase opportunities for school students to become familiar with the languages and cultures of Australia’s key regional neighbours, namely Indonesia, China, Japan and Korea.
Ambassador Farmer said, "As a result of initiatives such as the Engage with Asia program and the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program, an increasing number of Australian students are learning Bahasa Indonesia and studying Indonesian culture. This is a welcome development which will ensure even stronger and closer links between Australians and Indonesians in years to come.”

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