Papua province is the easternmost province of Indonesia, two time zones from Jakarta. At its heart lies one of its many remote and isolated regions: Kuyawage in the regency of Lanny Jaya. Kuyawage is the location of a mother tongue-based multilingual education pilot project whose ultimate aim is to increase the effectiveness of child education in rural areas of Indonesia where all generations use the local language.
Effective education which can lead to sustainable development starts with what children already know on entering school, that is, with their language, experience, culture and existing knowledge. Studies carried out in the Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and other countries demonstrate that the teaching and learning process may be made more effective and equitable by the use of the children’s mother tongue, both orally and in writing.
The Kuyawage mother tongue-based programme has been in implementation in kindergartens since 2016. This programme is funded by the Analytical and Capacity Development Partnership: a collaboration between the Governments of Indonesia and Australia, the European Union and Asia Development Bank. The first year of kindergarten is taught entirely in Lani. There will follow a graduated introduction of Indonesian, the national language, from the second year of kindergarten to Year 2 primary, whilst Lani will continue to be used orally and in written texts. From Year 3 onwards, Indonesian will be the dominant language.
This paper outlines the theory of mother tongue-based multilingual education and the policies which underlie this programme, as well as the conditions which led to choice of Lanny Jaya as its location. It then describes key steps in the implementation process to date, other measures taken to ensure the sustainability of the pre-primary and primary education provision in Kuyawage, and implications for policy makers in this and other regions of Indonesia.
