Jakarta – A top education official has defended the government's plan to streamline the curriculum for primary education, saying it is customized to boost character building.

Deputy Education and Culture Minister Musliar Kaslim said on Friday the existing curriculum for primary school students focused on science while at the same time neglecting the teaching of morals.

"In the new curriculum, primary school students will be involved in moral and character building instead of focusing on the content of subjects," Musliar said over a phone interview and added that the new curriculum would be implemented for first graders next year.

In the new curriculum, he said, students will be introduced to the country's diversity and pluralism. Students, he said, as an example, would be invited to visit different houses of worship.

According to him, primary school students will only study six required subjects, namely religion, civics, Indonesian language, sports, arts and culture and math.

Previously, they have been required to learn the basics of science and social studies. Some even have started to learn foreign languages, like English.

"We've simplified the subjects after receiving input from many parties saying that our current curriculum for primary schools was too heavy," Musliar said. He added that science and social studies would be taught but integrated into Indonesian language teaching.

"Students will be required to observe their surroundings and make oral and written reports afterward" he said as an example. Teaching of the Indonesian language has so far has been dominated by structure and grammar.

Yet, Musliar confirmed that English would not be included as a required subject for primary school students as the new curriculum would focus on boosting Indonesian language proficiency. "The teaching of English is still allowed but only as an extracurricular activity," he said.

Meanwhile, child psychologist Seto Mulyadi lauded the government's plan to trim the number of subjects taught at primary school education, as he deemed the current curriculum as overloaded.

But, he lamented that the curriculum excluded English. "It's still not a problem if [we] introduce English to primary school students," Seto said, adding that proficiency in English was essential in the era of globalization.

However, Seto said, if the government is to include English in the new curriculum, its teaching should also not be focused on grammar and structure, as teachers currently do.

"Teach them with games and songs so that they can also enjoy the teaching process," he said, adding that children at primary school were at the playing stage, not studying. Seto said the government had much to do as teachers not ready to apply the new curriculum. (riz)