Bogor student wins reading contest
Bogor student wins reading contest
Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta
Ten-year-old Rizky Muharom is a regular elementary school student
from Bogor, West Java. But he can turn himself into an old man, a
woman or even an animal when reading a story.
The boy won first prize on Saturday in a story reading contest
for elementary school students across Greater Jakarta. The
contest was organized by the Language Center of the Ministry of
National Education.
Rizky, a student at state elementary school SDN Pengadilan 3,
beat out 37 other contestants taking part in the event, which was
held for the first time in connection with National Children's
Day on July 23 and the month-long Language and Literature
campaign.
Nabila Meisya Hijriani Siregar, 10, a student at SD Pulo
Gebang 01 in East Jakarta, won second place, while third place
went to Siti Marliani, 9, a student at private school Yayasan
Bunda in Jakarta.
Abdul Rozak Zaidan, the organizer of the Language and
Literature campaign, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday the nine
judges rated the children on their enunciation and their ability
to give individual voices to each of the characters in the
stories they read.
"The majority of Indonesians read very little because they
have been accustomed to an oral tradition since early age ....
The contest was aimed at improving the reading habit," said
Rozak, who is also the head of the Language Center's language and
literature development division.
He added that the emergence of sophisticated audio-visual
games had led children to read even less than usual.
A 1997 International Education Assessment Test found that the
reading and writing ability of Indonesian elementary school
students was only 36 percent, placing Indonesia near the very
bottom of the list of the countries ranked, with only Venezuela
scoring lower at 33.9 percent.
"It is time for us to encourage our children to read more. But
this is not only the task of teachers, but also of parents,"
Rozak said.
Rizky received Rp 1.75 million (US$194.44) for winning the
contest, while the second-place finisher took home Rp 1.5 million
and the third-place finisher Rp 1.25 million. Each of the three
children also received a trophy, a certificate and books for
their respective schools worth Rp 750,000.
Contest organizer Elia Iswati said the 38 participants came
from 23 elementary schools in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok and Bekasi.
She said more students did not take part because there was not
enough time to organize the contest.
"We hope there will be more participants in the future," she
said, adding that the contest would become an annual event.