West Nusa Tenggara allots Rp 34 billion to eradicate illiteracy

Panca Nugraha ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  MATARAM   |  Mon, 06/29/2009 12:35 PM  |  The Archipelago

The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) provincial government has allocated Rp 34 billion this year to tackle illiteracy in 129,000 people aged 15 years and up in its eight regencies and two municipalities in the next six months, a government official said.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Friday, the head of the non-formal and informal education division of the provincial Youth and Sport Affairs Agency, Munawir, said of the budget, Rp 28 billion was from the state budget and the remaining Rp 6 billion was from the provincial one.

"The figure could be higher than that because each regency and municipal administration also has its respective budget to address illiteracy problems."

He added the fund would be channeled through third parties that executed illiteracy programs at the sub-regency levels such as the PKK (women's welfare organization), the Center for Community Learning Activities (PKBM) and educational NGOs.

An organization or institution, he said, could manage a number of study groups, each of which comprised 10 illiterate people aged 15 years and up. A fund of Rp 3.6 million, according to him, is allocated for each of the study groups for a six-month operation.

"We will start the program by the beginning of July and will end it by December."

He added according to the previous definition where illiteracy was defined for people aged between 15 and 40 years, NTB was declared free of illiteracy in 2006.

With the new definition, where illiteracy is defined for people of 15 years and up, therefore, NTB is now home for over 615,000 illiterate people according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Of them, over 150,000 were freed from illiteracy in 2007 and another nearly 50,000 were freed the following year. There are still over 300,000 illiterate people in the province.

"But the figure is not clear. It could be lower than that after an assessment in the fields."

He added the provincial administration had distributed Rp 10 billion from its budget to be distributed to over 900 subdistricts to reassess illiteracy in their respective regions.

"Through such a reassessment, by name, by age, by address, the target groups will be much clearer," he said, adding doing so would minimize possible misappropriation.

Apparatus from the respective subdistrict administration, he added, would also be involved to monitor and supervise the program.

Programs to fight against illiteracy in NTB has become a priority, among other programs, to increase the province's human development index, which is now the 32nd among the country's 33 provinces.

The program is part of the so-called 3A Movement, which is aims to achieve a zero illiteracy, zero maternal mortality and zero school drop-out condition.

Chairman of the 3A Movement coordinating team Sudaryanto said the national human development index for 2007 was 68.7 while that of the province was only 61.2.

The low literacy rate, according to him, had been the main reason for the province's low human development index.

He said based on a study that his team had conducted, illiteracy also implied high rates of mortality among children and mothers as well as high rates of school attendance.

"That is why we will focus on eradicating illiteracy first in our bid to increase the province's human development index."

He added his team would coordinate with each of the regency and municipal administrations in the province to make sure the 3A movement was well-conducted in its respective regions.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.