Math, English put students to the test<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Mathematics, economics and English have been found to be the most
\ndifficult subjects for Indonesian students, despite Indonesia's
\napparent success recently in the international math and science
\nOlympiad.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of National Education said that based on the
\nresults of this year's national final examinations publicly
\nannounced on Thursday, junior and senior high school students
\ngenerally faced difficulties in these three subjects.<\/p>\n
At the junior high school level, there were high failure rates
\nin mathematics and English, the ministry's center for evaluation
\nof education head Bahrul Hayat said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
He said senior high school students experienced difficulties
\nin social science studies.<\/p>\n
"For the senior high school level in social studies, it was
\neconomics and English," Bahrul said, adding that numbers were
\nstill being finalized after Thursday's announcement.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Wednesday, the education ministry reported that the
\nnumber of students who failed the national secondary education
\nexams increased by almost 100 compared to last year, especially
\nin conflict areas.<\/p>\n
A total of 4,896,033 secondary level students nationwide took
\ntheir final examinations earlier this month. They comprised
\n2,988,733 junior high school students, 1,248,808 senior high
\nschool students and 658,492 vocational high school students.<\/p>\n
On average more than 16 percent of them, or some 750,000
\nstudents, failed the exams and will have to sit repeat
\nexaminations on the subjects in which they scored below the 4.26
\npassing grade.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta alone, out of around 63,000 senior high school
\nstudents taking the exams, 2,656 social studies students scored
\nbelow the standard of 4.26 in economics, and 1,186 science
\nstudents failed in mathematics.<\/p>\n
The failing students will repeat the examinations from Aug. 23
\nto Aug. 25, the education ministry said, adding that it has
\nallocated Rp 50 billion (US$5.1 million) to fund the
\nsupplementary examinations. The first round cost up to Rp 250
\nbillion.<\/p>\n
In an effort to improve the country's education standards,
\nthis year the education ministry decided not to apply a grade
\nequalizer, which in the past was used to close the gap in pass
\nrates between more advantaged and disadvantaged regions. Last
\nyear, an equalizer was used as more than half of all students
\nfailed the exams.<\/p>\n
"The results show the actual quality of our education since we
\ndo not use the old converted scoring method," Bahrul said. "We
\nmake the questions equally difficult for all regions to obtain an
\nobjective result of the actual quality."<\/p>\n
Discrepancies in the nation's quality of education occurred
\nnot only in comparison between provinces or regencies, but even
\nbetween neighboring schools.<\/p>\n
A private senior high school in Depok, Bogor, with only 31
\nthird grade students, reported that only 62 percent of their
\nstudents passed this year's final examinations.<\/p>\n
Suparti, headmaster of SMU Tadika Pertiwi in Depok, explained
\nthat most of the exam's questions were applied econometry, while
\nher social studies students were more accustomed to memorizing
\ntheory.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, only a quarter of an hour's journey from the
\nprivate school, one of Jakarta's most popular public senior high
\nschools reported that only three out of its 359 students failed
\nthe exam.<\/p>\n
The education ministry claims that the examinations were aimed
\nat mapping strengths and weaknesses of each school to better
\nchannel assistance and funding in future.<\/p>\n
The ministry has said that the examination results would not
\nbe a sole consideration on whether students would graduate from
\nschools.<\/p>\n
However, its latest regulations on national standards of
\neducation state that it is compulsory for students to pass the
\nnational exams in order to obtain a certificate.<\/p>\n
Some education experts have opposed and criticized the idea of
\nmeasuring students' competency through centralized examinations.<\/p>\n
"Higher standards can be set after all the conditions are
\nmet," activist Yanti Muchtar said. "Those (conditions) are
\ncompetent teachers, sufficient infrastructure and contextuality
\nto local conditions."<\/p>\n
She added that it would be better for the schools themselves
\nto decide whether their students should pass to a higher level or
\nnot. "Logically, they are the ones who know full well their
\nstudents' ability and progress."<\/p>\n
"And anyway, should one's intellectuality be measured through
\na single test? Whatever happened to the saying that learning is a
\nprocess?," she asked. (003)<\/p>",
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