Jakarta – A lack of post-literacy education and poor infrastructure are hampering the country's efforts to eradicate illiteracy, the National Education Ministry says.

Elih Sudiapermana, head of the ministry's learning and education participants sub-directorate, said that at least 30 percent of newly literate students were believed to have difficulty maintaining their reading and writing skills due to limited access to education and reading material.

He said that a lack of books in remote areas had reduced the number of literate people the government had educated through its joint programs involving regional governments and communities.

"The government assisted around 660,000 people last year through the many programs it organized. However, a recent survey conducted by the Bogor Agricultural University [IPB] and the West Java Center of Education, shows that 30 percent of the people assisted in 2009 regressed into illiteracy," he said.

In order to lower the illiteracy rate in the country, Elih said, the government would allocate Rp 15 million (US$1,755) to each of the 550 organizations cooperating with the National Education Ministry to organize reading centers and Rp 25 million for each new sustainable development programs.

"The money available for national literacy eradication programs is very limited. This is why we must work together with community based organizations as well as those concerned across the country. It is impossible for us to fight illiteracy unless we work together," he said.

He noted that there were only around 500 reading centers spread across the 77,000 villages in the country. Elih added that the government would also allocate Rp 360,000 to each of the 550,000 people that the government would assist through its programs to eradicate illiteracy.

"We fully trust the organizations in selecting the participants and implementing the programs," he said. As the world celebrated International Literacy Day on Sept. 8, Indonesia celebrated the decreasing illiteracy rate all across the archipelago.

Wartanto, director for course and training development at the National Education Ministry, said that the ministry's programs had reduced the number of illiterate citizens by up to 5 percent.

"This is a great achievement because we actually aimed to reach the target by 2015. Therefore, representatives of countries around the world, particularly Asian countries, come to Indonesia to learn how to eradicate illiteracy in the country. They especially want to learn the role of communal organizations in helping educate the people," he said.

The ministry recorded that the number of illiterate people across the country had dropped 4.59 percent, from 8.7 million in 2009 to 8.3 million in 2010, of which 64 percent were female.

According to the ministry's data, 70 percent of illiterate people in the country were aged 45 years old or more, and the rest fell in the between 15 and 40 years of age.

The ministry said West Java, Central Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, Lampung, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi and Papua had the highest illiteracy rates.

Wartanto cited that a person was classed as illiterate if they were unable to read and write, unable to speak the national language or lacked basic knowledge. "We prioritize assisting those who are between 15 and 45 years old from this year on because they are the productive ones," he said. (msa)