Tenggarong, 13 September 2022 — Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province has monitored and published the training of Revitalization of Regional Language (furthermore stated as RBD) of Kutai language on Tuesday, 13 September 2022, at SMP Negeri 1 Tenggarong, Kutai Kartanegara. It was held to supervisee the preparation of Festival Tunas Bahasa Ibu (FTBI/Festival of Mother Language for Younger) in East Kalimantan Province.
Ismi Nor Aina, M.Pd. said that the RBD training was carried out at four schools, namely SMP Negeri 1, SMP Negeri 3, SDN 005, and SDN 015. Junior high school students practiced speech and tarsul, while elementary students practiced reading poetry and storytelling in the Kutai language. They were trained by main teachers who have been provided with mentors and experts from native Kutai speakers. As a result, students got better practice and experience in mastering the Kutai language. The Headmaster of SMP Negeri 1 Tenggarong, Abdurrasid, M. Pd. welcomed to the training and monitoring activities that gave high enthusiastic for students more active in practicing. He hoped that the selected elementary and junior high school students can represent Kutai Regency to compete with other districts at the FTBI provincial level in Samarinda.
Language Development Coordinator, Yudianti Herawati, S.S., M.A. described the RBD as an effort to protect the regional language in Kutai Kartanegara Regency become extinct as well as to strengthen and revive the regional language. “Hopefully, our children love this language and oral literature again so that they are not deprived of their cultural roots. Let us preserve the regional language by developing it to be adaptive toward times changing and be a feature of our Indonesianness everlastingly,” she explained.
Translated by Muhammad Erwin Darma