B

atik makers and artists in Cirebon have warmly greeted Cirebon regency administration's initiative in making batik art a compulsory field of study for all elementary and high school students in the regency.

They hailed it as a strategic move to develop batik art techniques and appreciation in the face of modernization, and to preserve national cultural heritage.

"As a form of a traditional heritage which still exists, the art of batik deserves to receive serious attention from the government and academics. Dedicating batik as a field of study for elementary and high school students in Cirebon is part of a strategic move that should be encouraged," said head of the Cirebon Arts Council (DKC) Ahmad Syubhanuddin Alwy on Wednesday.

Cirebon Regent Dedi Supardi said the subject of batik art taught in elementary and high schools would be put in to effect at the start of the 2010 school term.

"Actually, several schools have already implemented batik art as a field of study. We will use the schools as role models for other schools. We will implement *the course in* every school by 2010," he said.

Cirebon regency is home to 1,045 state and private elementary schools, 196 junior high schools and 121 senior high schools.

"Every school is obliged to intergrate batik art into their curriculum in stages. We will prepare teachers according to their levels of education. Batik makers and artists in Cirebon will also be involved in the program," he said.

According to Dedi, batik art will serve as part of the local content in the elementary and high school curriculum.

"Currently, only the Cirebon dialect has been included as a subject with local content. We will later enrich the local contents with batik arts and various other Cirebon traditional arts," said Dedi.

Dedi added the inclusion of batik as a subject for students was intended as a follow up to the recognition of batik as world cultural heritage by UNESCO on Oct. 2.

"We will take advantage of the recognition by UNESCO *of batik as world cultural heritage* as momentum to further appreciate batik as a national cultural heritage," he said.

Batik preservation will also be retained by requiring school students to wear batik every Thursday.

The 16,000 civil servants in Cirebon regency will also be required to wear batik on the 15th of every month.

"We will also require them to wear batik on every Cirebon regency anniversary which falls on April 2," said Dedi.

According to batik artist and leader of Cirebon batik makers' association, Katura, his group will help promote batik art in schools by providing instructors who will train art teachers.

"We are ready to train school art teachers in the skills of batik making. We appreciate *the initiative* and will help to make the program a success," he said.

According to Katura, Cirebon batik is more widely recognized under the name Trusmi batik because the production center is found in Trusmi village, Plered district in Cirebon regency. The Trusmi batik handicraft center is the biggest batik production center in West Java, where around 700 batik artists and makers have been engaged in the activity for generations.

Katura explained that the craft of batik making in Trusmi dates back to the 13th century, around the time of the establishment of the Cirebon Kasepuhan Sultanate. The batik craft initially developed within the sultanate circle and eventually spread to the wider public along coastal areas.