Boosting Literacy Level through Reading Campaign

Two districts in Riau Province became the target of the Reading Campaign supported by Tanoto Foundation in collaboration with PT. RAPP Estate Logas. The districts are Kuantan Singingi and Kampar, which respectively on 13 and 14 December 2017 carried out activities in support of the government program to improve literacy capability.

For Kuantan Singingi District, the activity was centered at SDN 003 Pulau Padang with participants from SDN 003 Sungai Paku and SDS Global Andalan Estate Logas – Kecamatan Singingi Hilir, as well as SDN 003 Pulau Padang – Kecamatan Singingi. Meanwhile, for Kampar District, the activity was carried out at SDN 005 Lipat Kain which was also attended by the participants from SDN 007 Teluk Paman, SDN 011 Kuntu, SDN 006 Kuntu and SDN 008 Kuntu.

“The undertaking of this activity is very good in increasing the interest of reading because there is a contest to read stories to peers which becomes a stimulus for the students to increase their reading interest and also there is an activity to measure the Effective Reading Capacity,” said Head of Kecamatan Kampar Kiri Technical Unit of The Education, Youth, and Sports Office, Mr. Jasri, M.Pd., in his welcoming speech.

Effective Reading Capacity (ERC) is an indicator in measuring a student’s understanding of what he/she read. ERC not only measures a student in his/her speed in reading but also the student’s understanding of what he/she reads.

“Hopefully, besides the students, the teachers would also try to step up their reading interest so that they gain new knowledge about teaching and learning process,” added Mr. Jasri.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Siti Robiati as the teacher representative of SDN 007 Teluk Paman stated that this Reading Campaign activity was very useful because it could apply ERC to find out the reading comprehension of students in her school. This activity would enable the school to find out the next necessary step for the students in order to improve their literacy skills.

Written by Leo Fariddian, Tanoto Foundation Riau