"Five regional languages in NTT will be revitalized in 2022. The five languages are spread across five islands in the province," Lubis noted here on Wednesday.
The regional language revitalization program was launched by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology on February 22, 2022.
The program to revitalize regional languages was implemented in 12 provinces as compared to that in 2021 when it was only implemented in three provinces: Central Java, West Java, and South Sulawesi.
He noted that 38 regional languages in 12 provinces in Indonesia will be revitalized in 2022 out of which five are in East Nusa Tenggara Province.
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Lubis remarked that the five regional languages in NTT that were revitalized by the agency were Manggarai language representing the Flores Island region, Dawan language from Timor Island, Kambera language from Sumba Island, as well as Rote language from Rote Island and Abui language from Alor District.
NTT Province has 72 regional languages based on the national language map out of which 30 regional languages are in Alor District.
Lubis explained that the heterogeneous use of regional languages encourages the Language Agency in the province to form a community using regional languages, so that the language remains sustainable.
He noted that the model used by the agency in preserving regional languages was community-based, so that local residents continued to use their mother tongue.
Lubis affirmed that the program for using the mother tongue in early schools implemented by the Innovation for Indonesian School Children (Inovasi) was a positive breakthrough in development in the education sector as well as an effort to preserve regional languages in this archipelago-based province.
"The mother tongue program for early grades in several basic education institutions in NTT being implemented by Inovasi is an extraordinary step to preserve regional languages in NTT," he stated.
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Translator: Katriana
Editor: Suharto
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