60 Jayapura City students take part in the mother tongue budding festival

A total of 60 elementary and junior high school students in Jayapura City, Papua participated in the mother tongue budding festival in the context of revitalizing the Tobati language in Jayapura City, Tuesday.

The head of the committee for the mother tongue budding festival, Antonius Maturbongs in Jayapura, Tuesday, said the participants who took part in the activity were aged 10-12 years or children who were in elementary school in grades four, five and six.

"As for junior high school aged 13-16 years who are in grade seven, eight and nine," he said.

According to Maturbongs, his party hopes that through the language budding festival in the context of revitalizing the Tobati language (Kampung Tobati) as well as implementing the protection of regional languages in Jayapura City, it can increase the use of regional languages in everyday life.

Furthermore, he said, to document the peculiarities of regional languages in Indonesia as part of efforts to protect the language and preserve the Indonesian language from the threat of extinction.

"But also advocating for local governments to protect regional languages in their respective regions," he said.

Meanwhile, Assistant I for Administration of the Jayapura City Secretariat Evert Meraudje said that his party strongly supports the mother tongue cultural festival so that in the future the Jayapura City Government will hold a village school program in 10 traditional villages in the region.

"So we will work with the Papua Provincial Language Center to run the village school program," he said.

He explained that the village schools will teach the speakers or owners of the language in the village.

The mother tongue festival held by the Papua Province Language Center was opened by Assistant I of the Regional Secretariat of Jayapura City Evert Meraudje at a hotel in Jayapura City, Tuesday (18/10).

The activity took place on October 18-20 2022 with a jury from Tri Handayani University academician, cultural observer as well as language, literature and art observer Tobati Alfons Samay, and KKLP for the Protection and Modernization of the Papuan Language Center Yohanis Sanjoko.

SOURCE : https://papua.antaranews.com/berita/692661/60-siswa-kota-jayapura-ikut-festival-tunas-Bahasa-ibu