"Shared House" amid Diversity

IRMA TAMBUNAN

Indonesian language learning activities in Class 1 SDN 77/X East Tanjung Jabung Regency, Jambi, Friday (21/10/22). Retno Wiryastuti guides her students to recognize letters and words. She often uses the local language to make it easier for students to understand the lesson.

There are undertones of the Malay accent in the local dialect of Indonesian language used among the people on the east coast of Jambi province. In schools, the local dialect is incorporated in the learning process to help the students build their comprehension of the standard national language.

It was Friday (21/10/2022). Retno Wiryastuti was giving a language class to her students. They were in the first grade of SDN 77/X state elementary school in Parit Culum I, East Tanjung Jabung regency.

She told the students that classmate Nabila was not coming and gave them additional information about the cause. “Jalan di kampungnyo leak. Iyo, leak jalannyo, jadi motor bapaknyo dak biso beputar.,” (The road in her neighborhood is water-logged. Yes, it’s water-logged, meaning her father’s motorbike couldn’t pass) she said.

I first utter in the local dialect and translate it into Indonesian. Only then will they understand.

She asked the students about the equivalent word for leak in Bahasa Indonesia. In unison, they responded: "becek". "That's right. Jalannya becek. That's the [standard] Indonesian language," she affirmed.

The local dialect is often used in the school’s first grade given that local people are still attached to Malay vernaculars. To introduce new vocabulary to the students, teachers use local lexicon in a sentence and encourage the students to find the equivalent lexicon in standard Indonesian. This way makes it easier for the pupils to grasp the new language.

“I first utter in the local dialect and translate it into Indonesian. Only then will they understand," Retno said.

The incorporation of local dialect into communication is carried in other learning activities, particularly for students of lower grades (I, II and III) where they are still heavily influenced by their mother tongue. The local dialect has long been the vernacular of the community, even after the arrivals of newcomers, either from Java as part of national transmigration program, or from Sulawesi and neighboring provinces as migrants looking for new livelihoods.

IRMA TAMBUNAN

Indonesian language learning activity at SMPN 17 Tanjung Jabung Timur Regency, Jambi, Friday (21/10/22).

Data at the Tanjung Jabung Timur education office show more than 80 percent of students still use a Malay dialect in daily communication. Some subscribe to the Duano language, which is one of the regional dialects ​​in Jambi. The rest speak Bugis, Minang and Javanese.

Aware about the social situation, SDN 77 principal Darmanelis has recommended language incorporation to facilitate the learning process. However, he said, for students of grade IV, V and VI, the teachers were encouraged to familiarize their students with the national language.

At SMPN 17 junior high school Tanjung Jabung Timur, the use of the Malay dialect in the classroom has decreased as the school administrator prepares the students to quickly immerse themselves with the diversity of the outside world.

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However, school principal Hasnah admitted that most of the students appeared to be more comfortable speaking in the local dialect. Some students, she said, stammered when speaking Indonesian in front of the class and seemingly struggled to communicate what was on their mind.

"Some students look shy when speaking Indonesian because they feel they are not fluent enough," she said.

Referring to Presidential Regulation No. 63/2019, Sukardi Gau, head of the Jambi language office, said that the Indonesian language was administered as the instructional language in national education. However, Article 23 Paragraph 3 stipulated in addition to Indonesian, regional dialects could be used to facilitate the learning process in elementary and equivalent schools.

Non-formal learning

In Jayapura, Papua, youths who are members of the Literacy for Everyone (LiFE) community volunteer to provide literacy education for children. The outreach program for non-formal learning has been carried out since 2017.

On Saturday (22/10), as many as 24 children from Koya village, Abepura district, attended a session at the Koya Koso Santa Maria Catholic Church. They looked enthusiastic about the topic presented by facilitator Alpius Uropmabin (23). In addition to his activities in the LiFE community, he is also one of the administrators of the Jayapura office of the Indonesian Catholic Student Association (PMKRI).

"Brothers and sisters, what does abol mean?" Alpius asked them. The children simultaneously answered by putting their hands on their heads.

KOMPAS/FABIO MARIA LOPES COSTA

Literacy training activity by the Literacy For Everyone community for children in Koya Koso Village, Jayapura City, Papua, on October 22, 2022.

Alpius affirmed that abol meant “head”. He also explained that the word sir was used to means “eye” and misol “nose”. These words are the regional lexicons ​​among the people in Pegunungan Bintang regency.

Alpius used the dialect of Pegunungan Bintang as the majority of the activity participants come from the regency. Their parents had moved to Jayapura in search of new livelihoods.

LiFE community initiator Kurniawan Patma said that the activity was born out of their concern that many children did not get access to formal education.

“As many as 50 percent of the 95 students in our community are not in school. They are hampered by extremely long distances from [their homes] to schools and the economic conditions of their families. These households are unable to fulfill their daily needs,” he said.

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Papua Regional Education, Library and Archives Office head Protasius Lobya expressed his appreciation for the literacy education. He said it was important to help overcome the 4.3 million people who are illiterate, which is 20 percent of the total population in Papua.

These examples in Jambi and Papua are among the cases of Indonesian language learning process that utilizes the diversity of regional languages. As stated by Endang Aminudin Aziz, Language Development and Development Agency head of the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry, Indonesia has 718 local languages to add to the identity of Indonesia’s ​​diversity.

In the midst of this diversity, Bahasa Indonesia has been the unifying language, as once declared by young people back in 1928, a historic milestone which is today commemorated as the Youth Pledge Day.

This article was translated by Musthofid.