Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Egypt’s Al-Azhar University has opened an Indonesian language study program at the Faculty of Languages ​​and Translations to follow up on the effort of the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo to provide the Indonesian language teaching for foreign speakers, especially students.

The effort began in 2016 when the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo collaborated with Al-Azhar University to organize an Indonesian language learning activity at the campus, the Government News Network (JPP) has reported as quoted here on Thursday.

In three years, the activity showed a significant progress with the number of Al-Azhar lecturers and students from various faculties participating in it.

Therefore, learning Indonesian is developed with more academic methods and systems.

In order to realize this, the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo cooperated with various relevant stakeholders, both from Al-Azhar and those from Indonesia.

The stake holders from Indonesia include the Center for Development of Strategy and Language Diplomacy of the Language and Book Development Agency (PPSDK-BPBP) at the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education as well as the Ministry of Religions.

The Indonesian Embassy in Cairo also cooperated with three universities that were incorporated in the Indonesian Language Teaching Consortium at Al-Azhar University, namely Gadjah Mada University (UGM), UIN (State Islamic University) Maulana Malik Ibrahim in Malang, East Java, and Muhammadiyah University Surakarta (UMS), Central Java.

The three universities provide Indonesian language teachers at Al-Azhar University.

Reporting by Indonesia Window