Republika, page 5
The Papua Provincial Administration (Pemprov) is ready to develop mother tongue-based education. The program follows up on the Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education Program (PMB-BI), which is jointly developed with the Institute for Capacity Building and Education Sector Analyst or Analytical and Capacity Development Partnership (ACDP).
Head of Papua Province Education Agency Elias Wonda, said, strategic steps have been made to realize this program. One of them is the implementation of the use of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in the classroom to students of early childhood education (PAUD) and early grades of primary school (SD).
Elias explained that the use of PMB-BI is also considered as a strategic step to improve the quality of education in Papua Province. The innovation began with the change of the Papua Education Strategic Plan (Renstra) in November 2015 which focused its pilot project in Kuyawage, Lanny Jaya Regency, since June 2016.
Similarly, Mohammed Musaad, Head of Papua Province Regional Planning and Development Agency (Bappeda), said the PMB-BI policy in Papua is also supported by Special Regional Regulation No. 3 of 2013 on education services for remote indigenous communities. The Renstra Kemendikbud also explicitly mentions the Mother Tongue can be used as the language of instruction in the early grades.
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