Illiteracy plagues 1.2m of East Java's population
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.