Graduates unable to get into college<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta\/Surabaya\/Semarang<\/p>\n
Thousands of senior high school graduates in Central and East
\nJava have not yet received the certificates required to enroll in
\nhigher education institutions.<\/p>\n
The research and development division of the Ministry of
\nNational Education said on Wednesday that the ministry's offices
\nin Central and East Java would receive the graduation
\ncertificates by Wednesday afternoon (June 23) at the latest.<\/p>\n
\"We distributed the graduation certificates to Jakarta,
\nCentral and East Java provinces on Tuesday. The distribution will
\nfinish this afternoon,\" said R&D head Dodi Nandika on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
However, the Central and East Java provinces had not yet
\nreceived the graduation certificates as promised as of Friday.<\/p>\n
\"We were supposed to receive the graduation certificates last
\nMonday. There's no clear explanation as to what has caused them
\nto be late,\" said Alexius, the headmaster of St. Louis Senior
\nHigh School in Surabaya, East Java on Friday.<\/p>\n
Alexius said the provincial education office sent invitation
\nletters to all school headmasters to appear at the office to get
\nthe graduation certificates on Saturday (today).<\/p>\n
He also said that the education office seemed reluctant to
\ntalk about anything surrounding the implementation of the
\ncontroversial National Final Exams (UAN), including the score
\nconversion.<\/p>\n
\"We haven't received much information about the revision of
\nthe conversion scores, so we won't be able to compare this year's
\nscores with the previous years,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The score conversion had drawn mainly negative reactions from
\neducation experts, especially since the system lowered the scores
\nof bright students.<\/p>\n
The ministry responded to the public outcry by revising the
\nconversion formula that would allow high performing students to
\nretain their scores.<\/p>\n
\"We didn't know anything about the score revision planned by
\nthe ministry, not until today (Friday) after receiving a letter
\nfrom the education office of Semarang,\" said Ken Kendar,
\nheadmaster of government senior high school SMAN 1 Semarang.<\/p>\n
Ken also said that he did not know about the details of the
\nrevision, since the letter gave no explanation.<\/p>\n
Many teachers and schools have expressed concern over the lack
\nof transparency in the policies implemented in this year's UAN.<\/p>\n
\"We would love to support any policies toward the betterment
\n(of the education system), but please, keep us informed. I hope
\nthe ministry will regard today's experience as a lesson for the
\nfuture by promoting transparency, especially for teachers and
\nschools,\" said Djumadi, the headmaster of SMAN 70 Jakarta who
\ndistributed the certificates to the students on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The lack of top down information can also be seen from the
\nresponse given by the head of the Planning and Development
\nDivision at the Central Java Education office, Gatot Bambang
\nHastowo.<\/p>\n
Bambang admitted that he did not know much about the score
\nrevision, saying that the whole thing was up to the ministry.<\/p>\n
\"We just need to accept it. One thing for sure is that we need
\nto ensure that students will be able to receive their graduation
\ncertificates by June 26,\" said Gatot.<\/p>\n
Dodi admitted that several regional education offices might
\nnot know about the score revision policy from the ministry.<\/p>\n
\"We regard this as a lesson for improvement in implementing
\nfuture policies by being more transparent, said Dodi.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/graduates-unable-to-get-into-college-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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