The Festival of Tunas Bahasa Ibu: Reviving Javanese Script to Strengthen Identity among Elementary School Students

Abstract

Revitalizing local literacy, particularly Javanese script, is essential for strengthening cultural identity and character building in elementary education. However, existing studies still show limited attention to how school-based cultural revitalization programs—especially those delivered through performative activities—affect students’ literacy development and cultural identity formation. This study aims to describe students’ Javanese script literacy and cultural attachment before participating in the Festival of Tunas Bahasa Ibu (FTBI), analyze FTBI’s role in revitalizing Javanese script, and formulate strategies for strengthening students’ cultural identity. Using a qualitative case study design, data were collected through observations, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and documentation, and analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s interactive model. The results show that before FTBI students’ literacy was limited and motivation tended to be low, while FTBI produced significant improvement in reading and writing abilities alongside increased pride, sense of belonging, and awareness that Javanese script is part of students’ identity. The study concludes that FTBI works effectively because it provides contextual cultural learning, pedagogical scaffolding, school habituation, family support, and social recognition through festival-based performance, while challenges such as time constraints and mastery complexity require adaptive and systematic teaching strategies. Theoretically, these results extend beyond the local Cilacap context by providing evidence that performative, festival-based cultural learning can operate as an “identity-learning mechanism,” offering transferable implications for global cultural education literature