Indonesian is on the brink in WA schools, with Year 12 enrolments plunging 85 per cent since 2001, as educators plead for a return to sustained federal funding.

Indonesian language study in Western Australia is in crisis, with the number of Year 12 students sitting ATAR Indonesian plummeting from 350 in 2001 to just 50 in 2024, according to figures from the School Curriculum and Standards Authority.

The drop represents an 85 per cent decline in two decades and has raised fears among educators that Indonesian could vanish from secondary classrooms altogether.

Federal funding for Asian languages in Australian schools had seen an inconsistent trajectory since the mid-1990s. The most significant investment was $30 million per annum under the NALSAS (National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools) initiative in 1995, which established national support for Indonesian, Japanese, Mandarin and Korean.

After its funding was scrapped in 2002, a scaled-down revival followed with the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program (NALSSP) from 2008 to 2012. However, both programs lacked continuity, and funding levels never returned to NALSAS’s earlier level.

Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies Director Liam Prince said the decline began after the investments ended. He cited a lack of funding, particularly from the federal government, for the teaching and learning of Asian languages in Australian schools.

During the NALSAS years, the number of schools offering Indonesian saw exponential growth, creating a pipeline for Indonesian language teachers.

“NALSAS built up the infrastructure and created an ecosystem of teaching and learning. It made sense to become an Indonesian teacher because jobs were available and plentiful. But that funding was cut in 2002,” he said.

Balai Bahasa Indonesia Perth chair Sue Cooper said the federal response so far had been inadequate.

“Indonesia is the biggest country in our neighbourhood, and [Indonesian language learning] is obviously very important to the federal government. So they are just being very quiet and they’re not doing what they need to do,” she said.

Brendon Cook is the president of the Westralian Indonesian Language Teachers Association. He echoed Ms Cooper’s concern and said decision-makers had failed to admit how bad the situation had become.

“We’re on the brink of extinction,” he said. “Until someone actually acknowledges that publicly and says, ‘this is a problem,’ I don’t think anything will change.”

This decline comes despite renewed emphasis on languages at the state level. In August 2025, the WA Government announced $2.345 million for its Community Languages Program, supporting more than 18,000 students across the state.

Nearly $1.3 million of the program’s funding will go to 59 community language schools teaching 37 languages, alongside new professional development initiatives for staff.

Mr Prince said the government must treat Indonesian language teaching and learning like a long-term strategic project.

“We actually need to approach this like a multi-generational education project,” he said.

“The project needs to be viewed like a large-range defence project that needs planning over 30, 40, 50 years. If we don’t act now, Indonesian language education in Australia could disappear completely,” he said.