BILINGUAL EDUCATION: IS IT WORTH THE WHILE?

Responding to the era of globalization, national education system in Indonesia has implemented bilingual program based on the Act no 20 year 2003 about the System of National Education which states that the government establishes at least one school in all level of education to be developed into an international standard school. However, the implementation of this bilingual program through international standard schools brings about some challenges and controversies. This paper attempts to discuss about what bilingual education is, the reason why bilingual education is important, application of bilingual education is some parts of the world, and finally the implementation of bilingual education in Indonesia