The need to strengthen the quality of literacy and numeracy learning at Early Childhood Education (PAUD) and Primary School (SD) levels has become a shared urgency in Pesisir Barat. This need has been recognized by a group of Master Teachers who work with the KREASI program to improve literacy and numeracy learning.
This urgency grew stronger after a workshop titled “Child- and Environment-Friendly Smart Literacy and Numeracy” held by KREASI Pesisir Barat. The discussion highlighted that literacy and numeracy are essential foundational learning skills that children need to develop optimally in order to face the challenges of the 21st century.
As a follow-up to the workshop, KREASI Pesisir Barat Master Teachers developed storybooks aimed at strengthening the quality of foundational learning in ways that are relevant to the needs of children, communities, and environmental sustainability.
The Master Teachers then received technical assistance from the KREASI team in developing these learning resources. This support covered the entire Design of Learning Resources process, including story script writing, illustration development, layout design, as well as editing of local language and strengthening content to ensure alignment with the local context.
One of the Master Teachers who is part of the writing team, Vitadi, stated, “It is important to strengthen children’s literacy and numeracy through stories that are engaging and relevant to their daily lives. This certainly requires an approach where numeracy concepts are learned naturally and in a fun way.”
The result of this process is a storybook collection consisting of seven titles. Each story is designed not only to improve children’s ability to read, understand text, and perform simple calculations, but also to nurture character, social awareness, and environmental consciousness from an early age.
One of the stories, titled “Ciko, Cimi, and the Pumpkin,” tells how marine pollution caused by human waste directly affects sea creatures like Ciko and Cimi, who are injured and lose their homes. The story is written in a contextual and child-friendly way so that messages of environmental care can be received empathetically and remain relevant to children’s everyday lives.
Vitadi explained, “The storybooks developed together with KREASI are very important in supporting contextual numeracy literacy for children in Pesisir Barat because they use local contexts that are familiar to children, making it easier for them to understand numeracy concepts so that they can think critically and solve problems through the stories presented.”
Interestingly, to further strengthen collaboration, the illustrations in these storybooks were created by one of the Master Teachers, Melodi, who is also highly skilled in drawing.
Melodi stated, “Illustration is the first window through which children see the world before they are able to read its words.”
Going forward, to ensure the quality of both content and visuals, these storybooks will be reviewed by the Yayasan Guru Belajar team and Save the Children to ensure pedagogical soundness, inclusivity, and sustainability values.
It is hoped that this long collaborative process between KREASI Pesisir Barat and the Master Teachers will bring long-term impact in the form of improved quality of learning resources, strengthened teacher capacity, and the growth of a learning culture that is more contextual, inclusive, and environmentally conscious.
“Hopefully, in the future there will be more diverse and contextual reading materials so that children across all regions can learn more easily and joyfully,” concluded Vitadi.
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The Program of KREASI or Kolaborasi untuk Edukasi Anak Indonesia (Collaboration for the Education of Indonesian Children) is funded by the Global Partnership for Education, developed by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs. KREASI in Pesisir Barat is being implemented by Save the Children and local implementing partner Yayasan Guru Belajar, support by the Government of Pesisir Barat with aims to improve the quality of education in Indonesia by strengthening teaching, learning, and student development.
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Writer: Putri Lalitaningtyas | Editor: Andika Ramadhan | Photo: Putri Lalitaningtyas/KREASI/Yayasan Guru Belajar/Save the Children