JAKARTA - Researcher of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Anggi Afiansyah, assessed that the literacy ability of students at the SMA/SMK level is lower than that of elementary and junior high school students.
Based on the findings of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen), there are fundamental problems in the formation of reading ability from the early level.
According to him, the decline is closely related to the weak foundation of literacy that is built gradually.
As a result, when students face more complex reading materials at the high school level, they have difficulty understanding the content of the text as a whole.
"At the high school level, the text becomes longer and more complex. If the foundation is not strong, students will have difficulty following," he said, Sunday, July 12.
Anggi explained that literacy skills are not only influenced by reading interest, but also by various other factors such as family support, school environment, and the availability of appropriate and adequate reading materials.
He saw that many students were not accustomed to reading long texts in depth from an early age.
This condition is exacerbated by limited access to quality reading materials, both at home and at school.
On the other hand, changes in patterns of information consumption also play a role. The dominance of screen culture and short video content is considered to affect students' ability to focus on reading long texts.
"Children are now more exposed to short content. This makes them less accustomed to reading long texts and requires high concentration," he continued.
Therefore, Anggi emphasized the importance of reading habits that are carried out consistently and gradually from an early age. He also encouraged the use of learning methods such as dialogic reading, which not only emphasizes reading activities, but also discussions to deepen understanding.
In addition, stronger government intervention is needed to improve literacy quality. Starting from the provision of affordable books, strengthening school and village libraries, to the cultivation of literacy discussions in the educational environment.
Efforts to improve at the high school level, continued Anggi, must be carried out more intensively, especially in schools with low literacy achievement.
In fact, students can be encouraged to return to reading simpler texts as a first step.
He also emphasized that the findings of the Ministry of Education and Culture were a warning that without a strong foundation, students' literacy skills were at risk of not developing optimally at higher levels of education.
In fact, literacy is the key to building critical thinking skills and readiness to face future challenges.
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