Illiteracy plagues 1.2m of East Java's population

Wasis Sasmito, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

The East Java administration is introducing a tuition-free educational program that it hopes within five years will eradicate illiteracy, which plagues some 1.2 million of the province's approximately 34 million residents.

"In the year 2002, 1.2 million people between the ages of 10 and 43 remain illiterate. We are determined to eradicate illiteracy by launching this tuition-free learning program," the head of the local education office, Rasiyo, said on the sidelines of a celebration for International Literacy Day here on Saturday.

He said the program would be launched early next year, with the goal of signing up at least 100,000 people for the program.

The country first launched a nationwide tuition-free literacy program in the 1980s. In commemorating that important event, President Megawati Soekarnoputri urged the Ministry of National Education to take the lead in the national movement to fight illiteracy.

Rasiyo said the majority of the illiterate in East Java were concentrated in five regencies -- Bondowoso, Pacitan and three of the four regencies on Madura island, except Sumenep.

The central government, the provincial administration and the regencies will jointly finance the literacy project.

The nonformal program will provide scholarships and vocational training for the illiterate.

Rasiyo said the central government had allocated money to educate some 32,000 people, the province would pay for 30,000 people and the rest would be financed by the regencies.

"The government had to share the responsibility to make this program a success," Rasiyo said, without specifying how much money would be needed to finance the program.

Separately, Governor Imam Utomo said poverty was the main cause of illiteracy in East Java, pointing to the fact that the five regencies were the least-developed in the province.

"That's why we need to address the poverty issue as part of this program," Imam said.