Literacy Project, Hope for Education in Jayawijaya

Improving literacy culture and encouraging reading interest for children in Jayawijaya Regency, Papua is a challenge in itself. Whereas understanding literacy in early grades plays an important role in the success of children in their lives. Based on the STAR (School-based Test About Reading) survey of 3rd-grade elementary school students in nine Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) service areas, it shows that Jayawijaya Regency is in an area with a low literacy level.

To increase literacy in Jayawijaya Regency, WVI in collaboration with the Ministry of Education through the Mobilizing Organization Program (POP) held a Literacy Forum training for school principals and teachers in 37 POP target schools. This activity is carried out to support educational programs in Jayawijaya Regency.

Since the training was carried out in November 2021, when entering the new school year, there have been several teachers who have started to implement Wahana Literacy in their schools. One of these schools is SD Advent Wamena. The initial step taken was to conduct special literacy training for teachers at Wamena Adventist Elementary School.

Erna Elsye Sapteno, the literacy facilitator who provided the training material, said that she was motivated to be involved in equipping teachers so that more children would benefit in the future.

"If I share the knowledge to 7 teachers, there will be around 140 students will be benefited if each teacher has a minimum of 20 children," said the teacher from Wamena Adventist Elementary School.

Safitri Gulo, a training participant explained that the training he received through POP helped him in developing learning media in the classroom.

Through this activity, many teachers find it helpful in designing classroom learning and can assess the abilities of students and teachers with formative assessment methods.

Written by: Kaleb Robinson Lau, Education Officer of POP Wahana Visi Indonesia