The Story of DeLiang and Reflection of Children's Literacy

SEAToday.com, Jakarta - At the end of January 2024, an 11-year-old kid named DeLiang Al Farabi became viral on social media. A video showed DeLiang speaking in a webinar. He shared his experience as a young writer with Poland elementary and junior high school students.

According to Edufic’s official account, DeLiang is a brilliant young writer with 30 books released in English. His first book was ‘DeLiang the Deer’, and his first novel was titled ‘A Tale of J: A Dark Winter’. Two of his novels ‘A Tale of J Quirky Friends’ and ‘Stories of the Worst Bullies History’ charted in the top 15 Amazon Books USA and UK for the Dark Comedy category.

Meanwhile, his fantasy novel entitled 'Rigel: The Last Guardian' occupied the Top 50 position on Amazon in the USA and UK. At the age of seven, DeLiang published three illustrated books and received his first IDR20 million in royalties at the age of 10.

DeLiang’s literacy and writing skills are inherited from his parents, Ario Muhammad and Ratih Anggraini. In 2023, DeLiang claims to have read 368 books. Ario and Ratih also initiated an educational platform to realize an educational environment that encourages creativity, imagination, and critical thinking for early learners, namely classes for Islamic families. DeLiang is currently completing his novel entitled 'The Battle of Badr' which will be published through a publisher in London.

Low Literacy Level among Indonesian Children

Unfortunately, DeLiang’s experience doesn’t represent the whole literacy quality for Indonesian children in his age. Executive Director of the Centre for Education and Policy Studies (PSPK), Nisa Felicia, revealed that based on the PISA test results, there are still around 70 percent of Indonesian students who have literacy levels below the minimum standard set. This shows that many students face difficulties in understanding, analyzing, and using information effectively, which could affect their ability to learn independently.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international test taken by 15-year-old students from various countries, including Indonesia. The test assesses students' abilities in reading, maths, and science, and the results are often used to compare the quality of education between countries.

Nisa added that literacy is not just about the ability to read and write, but also includes understanding and interpreting information, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.

Lately, in 2023, The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology launched Merdeka Belajar Episode 23: Quality Reading Books for Indonesian Literacy to complement its various literacy-strengthening programs. The program focuses on the delivery of quality reading books for Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Primary School (SD) levels accompanied by training for teachers.

Will this help resolve the literacy problems in Indonesia? We’ll just have to wait and see.

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