Literacy Infrastructure, Access to Books, and the Implementation of the School Literacy Movement in Primary Schools in Indonesia

Abstract

Literacy Infrastructure and access to books are the foundation of literacy activity. Indonesia has regulations from the Ministry of Education and Culture requiring that 15 minutes should be used each day before the learning begins to read books other than textbooks. However, many schools are not yet obeying this requirement. The purposes of this study are to describe the literacy infrastructure in primary schools in Indonesia, to analyze access to books in primary schools, to explain the School Literacy Movement implementation, and to identify issues around the implementation of reading strategies in a context in which there is limited access to books. The questionnaire and interview study were conducted in 30 primary schools in East Java, Indonesia. The study concluded that the literacy infrastructure and access to books in 30 primary schools are below standard, but the school community enthusiastically implements the objectives of the School Literacy Movement. Many primary schools are already implementing good many reading strategies although there are some problems related to teacher competence.