Wardiman dismisses education warning<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman
\nDjojonegoro yesterday played down the warning that the quality of
\neducation in Indonesia is declining.<\/p>\n
Wardiman challenged his critics to prove their theory that
\nthe low grades received by Jakarta students in exams held in
\nApril indicated that the overall quality of education in
\nIndonesia is in bad shape.<\/p>\n
\"They should come up with scientific data to back their
\nassumption,\" Wardiman told reporters after granting scholarships
\nto 328 students from all over Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Local newspapers reported on Thursday that despite slight
\nimprovements, Jakarta's high school students achieved very low
\nscores in April's national exams.<\/p>\n
The average score of about 70 percent of Jakarta's 558 public
\nhigh school students was only 4.6 for the seven subjects tested,
\naccording to the Jakarta provincial education office.<\/p>\n
The schools whose students' scores averaged only 4.6 were
\nthose categorized as \"low class\" schools.<\/p>\n
Twenty percent of the public schools categorized as \"medium-
\nclass\" had an average score of 6.2 for each subject, while the
\n\"upbeat\" schools, making up the remaining 10 percent, averaged
\n7.5.<\/p>\n
The news prompted an education expert and a senior legislator,
\nWuryanto, to call on the government and teachers to do something
\nto improve the situation.<\/p>\n
Wuryanto said that if anything is to blame for this worrisome
\ndevelopment, it is the learning-teaching process and not the
\ncurriculum, as some people believe.<\/p>\n
\"The curricula were made involving specialists. It is also
\nunfair to suspect that the questions in the exam were far too
\ndifficult for the students, because they were made based on the
\ncurricula,\" he was quoted by Kompas as saying.<\/p>\n
Wardiman doubted the accuracy of the Jakarta education
\noffice's report. He said some senior high schools performed
\nbetter this year than they did last year.<\/p>\n
\"I can show you the schools whose students scored better this
\nyear,\" he said.<\/p>\n
It was Marsetio Donoseputro, a member of the House of
\nRepresentatives in charge of education affairs, who raised fears
\nthat schools outside Jakarta could have done a lot worse than
\nJakarta's.<\/p>\n
Marsetio, a former rector of Surabaya's Airlangga University,
\nsaid he could not imagine how students were doing in their exams
\nin remote areas like Irian Jaya and Kalimantan, where facilities
\nare inadequate.<\/p>\n
The minister said it would be misleading to judge the overall
\nquality of education in Indonesia based only on the results of
\nthis year's exams.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Wardiman handed over scholarships from PT
\nJasaraharja Putera insurance company to 144 elementary school
\nstudents, 83 junior high school students, 80 senior high school
\nstudents and 21 university students. (31)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/wardiman-dismisses-education-warning-1447893297",
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