Community newspapers help boost literacy<\/p>\n
By A Chaedar Alwasilah<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): British sociologist Basil Bernstein (1958)
\nintroduced a theory of linguistic deficiency, hypothesizing that
\naccess to social privileges depends to a certain extent on one's
\nlinguistic ability to communicate.<\/p>\n
Socially disadvantaged people are characterized by a
\nrestricted language code, while the socially privileged are
\nassociated with an elaborated code. Although Bernstein's
\nhypothesis was based on research conducted on native English
\nspeakers, his theory has relevance in the context of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The restricted language code is characterized by a lack of
\nvocabulary, over-repetition of certain words and a lack of
\ncoherence between sentences. In other words, the language is
\nrhetorically weak. The elaborated language, on the other hand,
\nemploys a rich vocabulary including various logical connectors
\nwhich make the discourse fully coherent.<\/p>\n
Those fluent in the code have a wide vocabulary to draw upon
\nin the course of building up a discourse in a flexible and
\ncommunicative way.<\/p>\n
Translated into the multilingual and multicultural context of
\nIndonesia, the restricted language code refers not only to the
\ncommand of language as defined above, but also to the state of
\nmonolingualism, especially in minor or ethnic languages.<\/p>\n
By the same token, the elaborate language can be defined in
\nterms of the number of languages known.<\/p>\n
The monolingual, those who are literate in a minor language,
\nget less access to social and occupational privileges. Those who
\nare multilingual with a command of a minor language, the national
\nlanguage and English, will gain higher positions in society and
\nbenefit more from national development.<\/p>\n
Almost all jobs now require that the applicant be competent in
\na foreign language, usually English.<\/p>\n
Children from poor homes, especially those in rural areas, who
\ndo not develop fluency in the elaborated language code will not
\nbenefit to the full from other schooling, the mass media and
\nnational development, and will therefore stand less chance of
\nprogressing in society.<\/p>\n
Education in Indonesian should be designed to encourage
\nliteracy in the elaborated language code, which is the formal,
\npublic, and standard variety of the national language. Competence
\nin English should also be strongly encouraged.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that over 60 percent of the population live in
\nrural areas and 27.2 million of the population still live below
\nthe poverty line. These most disadvantaged people live in 20,663
\nvillages scattered across Indonesia.<\/p>\n
There are thought to be at least 5.72 million illiterate
\npeople in the country, 3.31 million of whom are female. These
\nstatistics are congruent with data on education of the older
\ngenerations in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The 1990 national census reported that 68. 4 percent of family
\nheads in rural areas were elementary school dropouts and only
\n28.8 percent had completed elementary education.<\/p>\n
In urban areas, 54.4 percent of family heads failed to
\ncomplete elementary school while 34.4 percent said they had
\ncompleted elementary education.<\/p>\n
Only 6 percent of family heads graduated from junior high
\nschool or higher institutes of learning.<\/p>\n
These statistics are alarming and will hinder efforts to
\ndevelop the nation into an industrial power.<\/p>\n
Industrialization cannot be achieved overnight, but must take
\nplace in gradual steps in time with developments in the literacy
\nof the people.<\/p>\n
From European history we can see that the literacy rate was
\nrelatively high when the Industrial Revolution began in Britain,
\nand that the first European countries to import the revolution
\nfrom Britain immediately invested some of their profits in basic
\neducation.<\/p>\n
Indonesia began a literacy campaign in the 1980s through the
\ncommunity newspaper program. Minister of Information decrees No.
\n75A\/1994 and No. 93\/1996 reconfirmed the government's commitment
\nto literacy development.<\/p>\n
Fifty newspapers throughout the archipelago were officially
\nassigned to run community newspaper programs with the objective
\nof bridging the information gap caused by the linguistic
\ndeficiency of people in rural areas.<\/p>\n
The program aims to reduce the linguistic deficit evident in
\nrural areas, which observers believe is correlated to the poorer
\neconomic conditions which are also found in such areas. The
\nassumption is that improved literacy rates will enhance
\nparticipation in the national development program.<\/p>\n
From my observation of four community newspapers in West Java
\n-- Mitra Desa, Bandung Pos Kandaga, Mitra Dialog, and Mangle
\nTepiswiring -- all such publications focus their reporting on
\nrural development issues which can be seen in the voluminous
\ncoverage which they give to themes like home renovation,
\ncooperatives, water management, family education and health,
\nfamily planning, agricultural counseling, and environmental
\nawareness programs.<\/p>\n
The emphasis of news in these papers is centered heavily on
\nthe local area where the readership resides.<\/p>\n
Mitra Dialog, a sister publication of Pikiran Rakyat, is
\nconsidered to be the best community newspaper in Indonesia and in
\nAsia, according to UNESCO criteria. It is classified as a
\ncommunity newspaper because it focuses on a specified territory,
\nnamely the growing city of Cirebon and the surrounding region. It
\nis an ideal model for community newspapers in multicultural
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Community newspapers are still developing in content and
\nmanagement, but they have been successful in teaching people in
\nrural areas how to improve education, control air and water
\npollution, look after livestock, and create a safer and more
\nefficient transportation system, which in turn improves the
\ngeneral standard of living and helps to keep their economy sound.<\/p>\n
Industrial development should progress hand in hand with
\nimprovements in industrial literacy, because to further develop
\nthe economy people must improve their ability to read and write
\nin the elaborated language code.<\/p>\n
The community newspaper program has been an ideal medium
\nthrough which to develop literacy, however it has been difficult
\nto introduce on a nationwide basis because of economic and
\ncultural factors. The publications are non-profit making and have
\nbeen forced to cut pages because of the monetary crisis. It is
\nlikely that many will not survive the lean times which are ahead.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, listening and speaking skills are more developed
\nthan reading and writing skills in Indonesian society. This gap
\nhas been exacerbated by television, which generally shows
\nprograms which are more visually stimulating but cognitively less
\nchallenging than the printed word.<\/p>\n
Television is a phenomenon of industrialized society, but to
\nget the most out of it, people need to be better educated and
\nhave industrial literacy. Only then will they be able to interact
\nfunctionally in an industrial society.<\/p>\n
The writer is a lecturer at Graduate School of the Teachers
\nTraining Institute, Bandung.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/community-newspapers-help-boost-literacy-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}