Data on illiteracy may be inaccurate<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A senior official of the Ministry of Education
\nand Culture has warned the provincial government against pumping
\nup the literacy rate in their respective patches simply to please
\nthe authorities in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Director General of External Education, Youth and Sports
\nSoedijarto said that this practice is hampering the government's
\ndrive to eradicate poverty and ignorance.<\/p>\n
Soedijarto said on Saturday that he has ordered his staff to
\nthoroughly test the accuracy of every report coming from the
\nregions about the number of people who are illiterate.<\/p>\n
\"It is common knowledge that lower-level staff tend to give
\npleasing but dishonest information to their superiors in order to
\nwin praise,\" Soedijarto told reporters during a press briefing
\nabout the preparations for the commemoration of International
\nLiteracy Day.<\/p>\n
Some of the reports his office receives from the regions about
\nthe illiteracy rate often do not jibe with the figures presented
\nby the Central Bureau of Statistics, he said.<\/p>\n
The government has repeatedly boasted about Indonesia's
\nsuccess in eradicating illiteracy, yet the United Nations
\nEducation and Science Organization (Unesco) in its 1993 yearbook
\nranks Indonesia sixth among countries with the greatest
\nilliteracy rates in the world. The UN agency put the illiteracy
\nrate at 11.6 percent of Indonesia's population above 15 years of
\nage.<\/p>\n
International Literacy Day falls on Sept. 8 of each year. It
\nwas decided at the 1966 Unesco conference in Tehran.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Education and Culture is organizing a series
\nof events in connection with this, which will reach its peak on
\nSept. 22 in the West Kalimantan city of Pontianak.<\/p>\n
Success<\/p>\n
Soedijarto said West Kalimantan has been chosen because it has
\nhad remarkable success in eradicating illiteracy. The West
\nKalimantan Education Office, with the support of the people and
\nprovincial government, has also been attributed for its vigorous
\ndrive to promote education in the province.<\/p>\n
Among the activities connected with the activities will
\ninclude reading and writing competitions, seminars on eradication
\nof illiteracy, exhibitions and distribution of leaflets and
\nstickers at the national and local levels, he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's own ambitious campaign to make the nation
\n\"illiteracy-free\" in the coming five years is targeted at people
\nin the age 10 - 44 years age brackets.<\/p>\n
The campaign oversees eradication of ignorance of the Latin
\nalphabet and numbers, Bahasa Indonesia and basic knowledge.<\/p>\n
The program is carried out by means of group-tutoring lessons
\nby government institutions, non-governmental organizations and
\nexperts.<\/p>\n
The program, however, has been facing difficulties in
\nobtaining tutors, facilities and motivating illiterate people to
\nlearn. (pwn)<\/p>",
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