Government Prepares Roadmap to Develop Indonesia's Literacy Culture

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia is targeting to develop the country's literacy culture to at least 71.04 percent of the country's people by 2024.The government is developing a roadmap prepared by ministries, agencies and academics, to reach this target.

Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture Assistant Deputy for Mental Revolution, Cultural Advancement and Sports Achievement Nyoman Shuida said the map "is designed to be a blueprint for the program in government and non-government instutions."

“Indonesia's literacy culture is still undeveloped. It has been making progress, but a number of indicators showed that it is still short of the target,” Nyoman said in the Ministry's website on Friday, May 21.

He pointed out that literacy culture has at least three indicators, namely ability to read, internet access, and rate of visits to libraries or community reading parks.

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"Literary culture is more than just the ability to read. It also about using what has been read to to think critically," added Nyoman.

Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture Assistant Deputy for Literacy, Innovation and Creativity Jazziray Hartoyothe, said that the literacy culture roadmap has already been made.

"The literary culture roadmap will be developed by involving shareholders such as the central government and provincial administrations, academics, the public and other parties. Once the roadmap is developed, hopefully we could can synchronize the program's development." 

shutterstock Reading in the park

There are several things that become the point of emphasis on improving literacy culture, including the legal basis for policies, the problem of book collection availability and the number of libraries and librarians.

"The road map focuses on the National Literacy Movement. It includes the School Literacy Movement, the Community Literacy Movement and the Environmental Literacy Movement," Jazziray said.

Officials still have their work cut out for them. "The availability of books is one of the obstacles to literacy culture in Indonesia," said the Head of the Language Development Agency of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, E Aminudin Azis. 

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"The standard of books in Indonesia still do not meet UNESCO standards." To make up this difference, Aminudin suggested "at least three new books annually for one child. Their contents also have to match the child's interests." 

He lamented that current reading programs tend to highlight books which their parents think are good for their children. "In reality, many children often do not like the books recommended by their parents." 

Literacy culture is one of the targets set in the 2020-2024 National Medium Term Development Plan. Nyoman said the field should continue to be encouraged to improve Indonesia's human resources and make them more knowledgeable.

"Literacy rates and culture are a key factor in creating high quality, competitive human resources by 2030," he noted. UNESCO and the World Bank said that literacy rates in Indonesia stand at over 95 percent.

(Writer: Deti Mega Purnamasari | Editor : Diamanty Meiliana, Dani Prabowo)

Sources:
https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/21/17011641/pemerintah-susun-roadmap-peningkatan-budaya-literasi-di-indonesia 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/05/21/17510711/pemerintah-targetkan-budaya-literasi-indonesia-capai-7104-persen-tahun-2024