10 students pass 'test of genius'

10 students pass 'test of genius'

Dyah Apsari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ten students out of 120 freshmen from 16 state high schools in
Greater Jakarta passed the first round of the selection process
on Aug. 31 to find exceptional students for the newly established
DKI Super Class.

All test participants were some of the 3,000 junior high
school graduates who scored a perfect 10 in the final mathematics
exam.

Jakarta Secondary and Higher Education Agency head Margani
Mustar said on Sunday that the ten students were qualified to be
interviewed as candidates of the special class.

"We held the interviews today (Sunday) and the results will be
announced in few days ... some of them may not be in the class,"
he told The Jakarta Post.

Besides Margani, another interviewer was Yohanes Surya, a
long-time trainer of international Science Olympiad candidates
who had won gold medals.

The interview was aimed at exploring the students' personality
and capability in articulating their thoughts.

"Although an IQ of 150 is one parameter, a cooperative
personality, as well as communication ability, are other
qualifications that are also important in deciding which students
to sit in the super class," Margani added.

The so-termed DKI Super Class -- DKI is the acronym for
Jakarta -- was initially scheduled to start in late August.

Co-founder Yohanes, who got the support of the city education
agency and PT BMW Indonesia, intends to collect exceptional
students who will get free education and the chance to be coached
as international Science Olympiad candidates.

"I believe that if genius students have the opportunity to be
trained equally to their competence, they will significantly
develop their academic capacity ... and may well give a
substantial contribution to Indonesian welfare and prosperity in
the future," Yohanes said.

The class will be conducted at State High School No. 3 in
Setiabudi, South Jakarta.

Due to lack of information to schools and parents about the
program, only few students joined the first test, and the
education agency was now trying to reach out to more participants
to fill the quota of 24 seats in the super class.

"Another test will be held on Sept. 11 at the Pancasila
University campus in Depok. Hopefully, more talented students will
attend the second round of the selection process," Margani said.

The students will be asked to solve hundreds of problems to
test their logical thinking, numerical and verbal capability as
well as their level of concentration.