As a result of the villages` isolation, hundreds of children there cannot read and write, Rairajun, a Kotabaru education official said here Monday.
The isolated villages were Mahinding and Cantung Kiri Hulu located in the Mount Meratus region in Hampangbaru sub-district, Kotabaru district, he said.
Cantung Kiri Huulu village was not connected with any other village by even a footpath but it was inhabited by 16 families.
To reach Cantung Kiri Hulu village, people had to walk for many hours from Limbur, or 12 hours from the nearest neighboring village of Hampang.
Meanwhile, he said, Mahinding could only be reached by using a special motorcycle capable of riding on steep terrain.
"Some teachers we assigned there to educate local people could not live there very long because of the difficulties to get there," he said.
Even more, he added, they often got accident in the 3 hour trip to teach the local people.
Therefore they only were able to survive for several months at Mahinding to give the people training, he said.
According to him, to alleviate the local people, especially the kids, from illiteracy, the Department of Education would like to recruit some tutors to help them learning reading and writing.
"It`s difficult to build school there because there must be at least 60 students to build a school," he explained.
So that, he said, it only needed instructors and teachers who were assigned to get there to teach them reading and writing.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
