Improved reading skills for elementary school students

In the Kuansing Regency of Riau, as elsewhere in Indonesia, one of the main impediments to a sound education is children’s lack of motivation and interest in reading.

Their parents assume that spending time studying in school is enough for their children to be able to read. The parents work as farmers, construction workers and fishermen, which means that they lack the time and understanding needed to encourage and help their kids read.

Using the innovative Love Reading project, YPP offers reading education to schools in Pulau Bungin Siberakun village of the Benai sub-regency. YPP created the PAKEM method (an acronym for Learning, Active, Creative, Effective and Enjoyable), which is much appreciated both by teachers and by students.

The children, who average seven years old, are provided with Student Worksheets. They print, following letter shape outlines on their activity sheets, or colour in the same letters repeatedly. As they do, without realizing what’s happening, they easily come to remember the names, shapes and sounds of the letters.

Using a team teaching system, students are grouped according to ability, so that gifted students who quickly finish their assignments don’t bother other, slower students.

YPP expects that with two foundation personnel working together with a homeroom teacher, students will no longer have to repeat a grade, as has happened in the past, only because they cannot read fluently.

YPP ran several programs in Kuansing Regency from February 2011 to December 2015. Because of personnel limitations, Kuansing Loves Reading is no longer active.

Other School Partnerships: