Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...

In attempting to meet one of the goals of UNESCO’s Education for All (EFA) programme and addressthe pre-literate adults in an isolated community, the Indonesian Non-formal Education Departmentbegan a mother tongue literacy project using a functional literacy approach. The language of Sunda hasover 16 million speakers, most highly literate. However, on the densely populated island of Java, thereare isolated pockets of Sundanese speakers that have not taken advantage of literacy in the nationallanguage (Indonesian), and still use Sundanese as their daily language. One of those pockets is found inthe community of Cibago, four kilometres from the nearest elementary school. The site of Cibago waschosen because it is within travelling distance of the regional Non-formal Education Centre, where staffcould operate the pilot programme and still conduct their other duties.After Phase I and II, which were primarily in the Sunda language, Indonesian literacy was incorporatedinto the programme. Besides the small businesses that have begun, the attitudes of the Cibago residentstowards education have changed as they have become literate in their mother tongue and in the nationallanguage. They now have a preschool for their young children and are actively encouraging their schoolagedchildren to stay in school. They are even interacting with district leadership to ask for a paved roadso that public transportation can enter the village and transport their youth to middle school.By addressing the needs of the community to study topics of interest to them and by honoring theirheritage language, this functional literacy programme has kept adults interested and provided a lifelonglearning environment in the Sunda local community. Good lessons learned from this programme havebeen disseminated by the Non-formal Education Department and several other areas are currently usingthe same approach to reach the unreached.BackgroundPresent Language SituationThe Republic of Indonesia is the most linguistically rich country in Asia with more than 700 languages.Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) is the official language used in government, business, and education.Since it is the main factor that unites the many diverse ethnic groups of Indonesia, Bahasa Indonesiais known as “Bahasa Persatuan” (language of unification). Local languages still play an important rolein Indonesian life, however, and are considered a valuable part of Indonesia’s cultural heritage thateveryone hopes to maintain, develop and preserve. A local language is commonly known as “bahasaibu” (mother tongue), though not necessarily a language taught by a mother to her children. Accordingto Abdul Chaer (1995:107), “bahasa ibu” is the first linguistic system naturally learned by a child from itsmother or other family members. 1Although many languages exist in Indonesia, surprisingly, most do not yet have school curriculumusing the mother tongue. BP-PLSP, Region II Jayagiri (regional non-formal education training centre)has initiated a pilot project for literacy education based on the principles of functional literacy for adultsand language of instruction in the mother tongue. Based on these principles, the Jayagiri literacy teamdeveloped a programme called KFBI (KFBI : Keaksaraan Fungsional melalui Bahasa Ibu, which translatesinto Functional Literacy through the Mother Tongue) located in Kampung Cibago, Mayang village,Cisalak sub-district, Subang, West Java district.1 As quoted on page 6 in: Meniti Jalan Kemajuan. 2006. Editors: Ade Kusmiadi, Agus Sofyan, Mia Rachmiati, EndinSuhanda, Sriwahyuningsih, and Kay Ringenberg. BP-PLSP Regional II Jayagiri, West Java. Soon to be published.[ 110 ]