As part of efforts to eradicate illiteracy in Mimika regency, Papua, the Mimika administration will gather street children and involve them in the Smart House program, says a local official.
"Children from native Papuan parents, who used to collect used cans on the streets, will be encouraged to study at the Smart Houses. The regency administration will cooperate with its partners to run the program," Mimika Education Office's medium level education head Yesaya Sombuk told the media at the Graha Efata building Tuesday.
Sombuk said the Smart House program was part of a national program by the National Education Ministry to wipe out illiteracy across the country and that Rp 400 million (about US$40,000) from the state budget had been set aside for it.
He said Mimika was ranked fifth in Papua in terms of the highest number of illiterate people, after Wamena, Merauke, Paniai and Nabire regencies.
"While at the national level, Papua ranks 10th out of the 33 provinces in Indonesia for the highest illiteracy rate," he said.
His office had initiated a three-month illiteracy eradication program for 1,200 residents, who would be taught at 21 Learning and Teaching Centers located in villages in the 12 districts in Mimika.
Illiteracy in Mimika is prevalent in the mountainous, coastal and remote regions of Mimika, as well as in the regency capital, Timika city, not only among native Papuans but also newcomers seeking a living in Mimika.
As many as 40,000 of the 175,000 residents living in the mountainous, coastal and remote regions in the 12 districts of Mimika still cannot read and write.
They are currently attending lessons at the Learning and Teaching Centers (PKMB), running for the next three months, from November to February 2010.
Earlier, the residents had been formed into study groups and had lessons in reading, writing and counting in homes, given by tutors trained by the Mimika Education Office.
Around 500 people from villages across the regency, such as Banti in Tembagapura district and Kwamki Lama in Mimika Baru district, attended the opening of the Illiteracy Eradication Event in Mimika on Tuesday.
A tutor at the PKMB in Nawaripi Baru village in Mimika Baru district, Anton Bugaleng, told reporters Tuesday he had given lessons to residents in Nawaripi Baru village at the neighborhood chief's home, using traditional tools brought by the people to count, write and read.
"I taught people in Nawaripi village using teaching materials such as bags made of woven tree bark. They could absorb the lessons given by the tutors easily. I plan to open another Smart House in Satuan Settlement II," he said.
Anton, who is from the native Amungme community, is concerned about the quality of human resources among native Papuans in Mimika. He is spearheading an education facility for parents in Nawaripi Baru village, mostly inhabited by people from the Kamoro tribe who can neither read, write nor count.
"I am involved with teaching residents who cannot read, write or count. I have often conveyed to the government the importance of wiping out illiteracy and it has responded very seriously by declaring a campaign to eradicate illiteracy in Mimika regency," he said.
