Literacy is a bridge for students in education, equipping them to understand and navigate developments around them. However, access to literacy in Sumba, in particular, remains challenging. A lack of quality reading materials, less interactive and engaging literacy activities, and less creative teaching methods are all factors that impact literacy access. Based on this, YLAI (Yayasan Literasi Anak Indonesia) is collaborating with the East and Sumba government to develop literacy through the Balanced Reading Program, which targets public elementary schools and PAUD. Balanced Reading Program
The balanced reading program has been running for over seven months. There are 17 elementary schools participating in 2025 program in East and West Sumba. During the program’s implementation, the District of Education selected nine specially trained regional facilitators to assist with the program’s development in each school, who had also received training. Each month, the regional facilitators assisted and monitored the program.
Pak Sandri is a regional facilitator for East Sumba Regency. He is an elementary school teacher, but his school is not targeted by the program and through his experience mentoring the program. He witnessed and experienced firsthand the changes that occurred in students and teachers who implemented the balanced reading program.
Furthermore, Pak Sandri facilitated meetings requested by teachers after school hours to share best practices and further practice implementing reading activities in the classroom. They also provided a forum for discussion, addressing challenges encountered and addressing potential solutions.
Remote locations, varying teacher abilities, support from school leaders, and the perception that mentoring is a personal assessment were some of the challenges faced by the regional facilitators. However, Pak Sandri and his fellow regional facilitators never gave up on spreading the literacy virus. They consistently strive to find solutions and overcome challenges faced in the field.
His enthusiasm for spreading the literacy virus deserves appreciation. He even trains teachers at the school where he works, even though it is not a target school for the program. He also felt the benefits of the program training personally. Pak Sandri participated in the 2025 provincial-level Teacher and Education Personnel Appreciation Competition in the transformative teacher category. He shared best practices for early diagnostic assessment of reading ability using the form obtained during the regional facilitator training. He won second place in the Transformative Teacher and Education Personnel Category at the elementary school level in East Nusa Tenggara Province.
“We hope that more public elementary schools and early childhood education (PAUD) in Sumba will receive training in the balanced reading program and implement the results in their classrooms,” he said.
In Tanah Marapu, the literacy virus has spread from West to East, from educators to early childhood students.
(Petricia Andini Hutasoit)