Unesa.ac.id, SURABAYA-In order to create an intelligent and literate village community, the UNESA Ormawa PPK team organized a Digital Literacy-Based Smart Village program in Sukorejo Village, Parengan District, Tuban Regency. This program is held in August-September 2022. The PPK team comes from the Indonesian Language and Literature Department Student Association FBS UNESA.
The Smart Village Program focuses on improving the quality of rural communities in terms of digital-based literacy, which is a manifestation of the implementation of the Merdeka Learning Campus Merdeka (MBKM). The birth of this program is to answer the lack of public interest in reading.
Devi Citra Ayu Rahmawati, the chief executive said that through this program they initiated five literacy corners in the village. There is an arts and cultural literacy corner, an entrepreneurial literacy corner, a agrarian literacy corner, a spiritual literacy corner, and a tutoring and fairy tale literacy corner.
1. Art and Culture Literacy
Corner This arts and culture literacy corner is located at the Ngripto Raras Art Studio, Sukorejo Village, which focuses on digitizing local culture through social media such as Instagram and Youtube so that local cultures are exposed on social media. The goal is to introduce local culture to generations and a wide audience. "We also hold training and of course synergies with local stakeholders by involving village youth," said Citra.
2. Entrepreneurial Literacy
Corner The Entrepreneurship Literacy Corner, said Devi Citra, is located at the Sukorejo Village Hall. In this literacy corner, the PPK Ormawa Team provides training to PKK mothers who have entrepreneurs so that they can create stalls in E-Commerce such as TikTok Shop and Shopee. "Thus, they will get supplies to sell online, in addition to offline sales that have been carried out," he added.
This activity was greeted with great enthusiasm by the women, Mrs. Min, one of the local village KDP members who claimed to have received many benefits. According to him, the coaching of making stalls in E-commerce really helps him to sell online. "Initially, I could only sell at home, but with the E-commerce stall, I can sell online so it‘s more profitable for me and my family," said Bu Min, a resident who sells seblak.
3. The Agrarian Literacy
Corner The Agrarian Literacy Corner focuses on making hydroponic plants that can be used in narrow areas. In addition to hydroponic plants, the PPK Ormawa HMJBSI UNESA team also provided guidance on how to make biopori or infiltration wells.
Activities focused on SMAN 1 Parengan and received full support from the school. The principal of SMAN 1 Parengan, Aziz, admitted that this kind of activity could motivate him to continue his education in higher education.
He supports activities to provide guidance in the form of how to plant hydroponic and biopore techniques. “Most of our high school students don‘t want to continue their education because of their family‘s economic background. With the existence of PPK students from UNESA, I hope to increase the children‘s desire to continue their higher education," he said.
4. Spiritual Literacy Corner
The Spiritual Literacy Corner was held at the Darussalam Mosque, Sukorejo Village. This program focuses on children aged 6-12 years. The activities are in the form of coaching by the Ormawa PPK team, namely the procedures for ablution, tayammum, and prayer. The PPK team also provided education in the form of Islamic holidays, stories of the prophet, and writing calligraphy for Asmaul Husna.
5. The Bimbel and Fairy Tale
Literacy Corner The next program, the Bimbel and Fairy Tale Literacy Corner, targets students of SDN Sukorejo grades 1-6 regarding subjects that have not been understood at school. In addition, it is also addressed to toddlers at the local kindergarten.
“Storytelling activities are held every Thursday. The output is that children can tell fairy tales to practice self-confidence and practice reading culture from an early age,” explained Citra.
He hopes that the Smart Village program that touches the community from children to adults can improve the quality of literacy in the village. “There are many variables when we talk about literacy. Because it cannot run alone, all parties must work together. Then, literacy about habits or characters that should be introduced and familiarized from an early age, is strengthened during adolescence and developed in adulthood," concluded Citra.
Nur Halim as Sukorejo Village apparatus said that this activity is very important to be carried out in villages. "This is a good program in my opinion, especially for our community because it can help improve people‘s lives and become literate people," he said.
With the existence of the digital literacy corner, the enthusiasm of the people who generally don‘t like to read is stimulated by their interest in reading. Moreover, the literacy corner offers a very attractive design for both adults and children. [HUMAS UNESA]
Author: Lukman
Editor: @zam Alasiah*
Photo: Documentation of Devi Citra Ayu Rahmawati