Tanah Grogot, 26 May 2023 — The Regional Language Revitalisation as Merdeka Belajar Program Episode 17 is still ongoing. This year, four regional languages are being revitalized in East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan Province. Three languages are Paser, Kutai Malay, and Kenyah which have been revitalized in 2022. One language from North Kalimantan Province, namely Bulungan language.
Therefore, Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province organized the Competency Improvement of Regional Language and Literature activities i.e. Training of Trainer for Revitalization of Paser Language on Tuesday-Friday, 23 to 26 May 2023 at the Agency of Archives and Library of Paser Regency. The event is the Government effort via the Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province to increase the regional language’s vitality, namely the Paser language. In addition, it, aimed to provide some materials for teachers in teaching the Paser language in their respective regions.
Eighty participants consisting of teachers and members of the Paser language community/activists from the Paser and Penajam Paser Utara districts were invited. Five Paser language speakers were involved, namely Sabrun, Aji Jamil Aji Saman, Aji Luqman Panji, Suwis Santoso, and Muhammad Saleh. The five speakers delivered materials on Writing and Reading Poetry, Pantun, speech, writing short stories, Betore, stand-up comedy, and Storytelling in the Paser language as well as how to create those teaching materials.
Surpiyani, S.E., Culture Section, Agency of Education and Culture of Paser Regency gave her support for the second year of implementation of Paser Language Revitalisation. She also provided support to publish Sempuri (fairy tales), Betore (poems and folk songs), and Selembo (rhymes) which are produced in this training through the Agency of Education and Culture of Paser Regency. In addition, she also provided the facilities for doing Mother Language Festival for Younger (FTBI) at the regency level in October or during Language Month. Meanwhile, H.M. Yusuf Sumako, S.H., M.Hum the Head of the Agency of Library and Archives in his speech also gave support to this activity. He said that his Agency, besides facilitating visitors to read the books, also provided the spot to host the trainings.
As a result, the participants are expected to be able to disseminate other teachers and students of primary and junior high schools throughout Paser regions. At the end of the training, participants made a joint commitment to teaching and disseminating training results in Paser District. The commitment address teaching the Paser language to 3,500 students and disseminating Paser language teaching materials to 650 teachers/trainers. (ems/am)
Translated by Muhammad Erwin Darma