Vice Governor Opens Community Literacy Index Improvement Activities for Welfare

Jakarta Vice Governor Ahmad Riza Patria, opened an activity to increase the public literacy index for welfare carried out by the National Library (Perpusnas) at the Jakarta Library, Cikini, on Monday (8/15).

Jakarta declared itself the first literacy province in Indonesia

According to him, the activity showed the Jakarta administration's concern for improving people's lives through literacy.

"On behalf of the administration, I appreciate the Perpusnas collaborating with the Jakarta Library and Archives Agency (Dispus ip) thus we can hold the talk show and literacy activity well. The theme we take shows that we care about the importance of improving people's lives, especially in Jakarta," he expressed, on the sidelines of his speech, as quoted by Jakarta PPID's press release.

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He explained that the notion of global literacy is not only related to the ability to read and write but also to the ability to think and how to solve various problems. In everyday life, literacy intelligence can be the foundation as well as the impetus for a healthier, more advanced life, not easily eaten by hoaxes, more tolerant, mutual respect, and respect for existing differences.

"And also we can live in peace, peace, and prosperity. On January 27, 2016, Jakarta declared itself the first literacy province in Indonesia. We are also proud that Jakarta has been named the city of literature by UNESCO. This announcement was made on November 8, 2000. Jakarta is one of 49 other cities in the world that are members of the Unesco Creative City Network in 2021," he explained.

Then the development of infrastructure and human resources in Jakarta must be conducted hand in hand. The term that is often conveyed is making a developed city for happier people.

"Making a developed city, developing infrastructure everywhere for happier people is aimed to ensure good human resource development. At this point, to what extent do we help improve people's literacy skills, to what extent do we conduct the culture of reading, writing, and critical thinking in everyday life, and to what extent do we invite various other elements to improve people's literacy," he added.

He hoped that the event resulted in comprehensive and applicable steps, which increased the literacy index of the community considering the progress of a nation, and civilization, measured by the advancement of resident literacy.

He also conveyed progress in Jakarta in terms of literacy. One of them is that in 2022, the number of reading interest in Jakarta will reach 71,719 participants or rise by 144.5 percent compared to 2021 which was 29,332 participants.

"There is an increase of about 144 percent but this is not enough, there must be extraordinary jumps," he expressed.

Dispusip Head Wahyu Haryadi uttered that the activity was a form of collaboration between the central and regional governments as executive institutions as well as a form of facilitation for conveying the aspirations of the community through the legislative body as stated in DPR Letter number 9/DPR-RI A-078/V/2022 on Submission of Aspirations for the Implementation of the Community Literacy Index Improvement Program.

"It also invited 150 participants face-to-face and around 5,000 invited people through online methods. Most of them are from various circles, including education staff, students, literacy activists, reading communities, and librarians," he closed.