With the global pandemic of covid-19, schools are closed and learning experience has switched to online learning. ICT is emerging as an alternative, its potential as a tool to reach education to primary and secondary grade children is being explored. Yes, it is a good option for the children who live in cities with internet access. But what about those who live in remote villages?

Not everyone can go online. A lot of kids in the areas where our libraries are located, do not even have access to the internet. Our national TV station, TVRI, has launched some educational programs, an initiative of the Ministry of Education. It was a good start. Unfortunately, there are still villages that don’t even have electricity! And for villages that have access to electricity, we’ve seen not everyone has TV. Only the head of the village has TV, normally, and every night they will gather together to watch TV. But now… with the physical distancing rule, watching tv together is not an option, which means, those kids without TV at home don’t even have access to those educational programs, too.
Taman Bacaan Pelangi has been working in remote villages in Eastern Indonesia in the past 10 years and since we work in remote villages, we’re very concerned about their learning and development in the midst of this covid-19.
Therefore, we are launching a new initiative to give out packages for kids in the first grade that consists of a mix of art, math, reading and writing materials, so they still can study at home. We aim to reach 2,000 for this first phase. And for this new program, we are partnering with Chelsea Islan, a movie star in Indonesia, to help push this campaign to a wider public.
Education matters now than ever!
We need your help. Please donate at kitabisa.com/chelseauntuktbp.