Head of Language and Literature Facilitation and Advocacy at the ministry, Adu Budiwiyanto, highlighted the importance of regional government involvement through local language mapping and revitalization programs.
“We hope regional governments will continue to support local language revitalization efforts, in order to reach more students, schools, and communities,” Budiwiyanto said here on Tuesday.
He praised the achievements of Papua’s Language Center, which trained 190 lead educators this year. These lead educators, in turn, have trained 596 peer educators and reached 9,816 students.
“This is truly an outstanding achievement,” he added.
Nationally, the 2025 local language revitalization program has covered 111 languages or dialects across 309 districts and cities in 36 provinces.
The program has also produced 170 teaching modules, trained 8,767 lead educators and 9,992 peer educators, and reached 847,767 students.
“Papua is extraordinarily rich in linguistic diversity. It is a treasure not just for the region but for the entire nation,” Budiwiyanto emphasized.
Although the revitalization program has not yet met its targets due to limitations in human resources and funding, he expressed optimism that with cross-sectoral collaboration involving local governments and other partners, the goals of the program can be achieved.
“The responsibility to protect local languages lies with the regional governments,” he stated.
The Ministry has coordinated with the Papua Language Center and the Papua Special Autonomy Development Acceleration Steering Committee (BP3OKP) to conduct language mapping and revitalization.
Moreover, those efforts will be supported by regional regulations for local language protection.
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Translator: Yuvensius, Kenzu
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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