480,000 take state university entrance exams
JAKARTA (JP): Nearly 480,000 senior high school graduates nationwide attended entrance exams to state universities on Tuesday, vying for approximately 72,600 seats.
In Yogyakarta, 10 blind students sat the exams in a special room at the state Institute of Teachers' Training. The questions were in Braille.
The students answered the questions with hand signals: thumb for A choice, index finger for B, middle finger for C, ring finger for D and little finger for E. Exam organizers helped the students write down their answers.
Another blind student, Dyah Arum, sat her exams in a different manner; test organizers read out the questions and noted down her answers. Secretary of the entrance exam committee, Anwar, said Arum was the first blind person to apply for cultural schools, and the organizers did not have the relevant questionnaire sheets in Braille.
Of 36 blind students who applied for state universities countrywide, 20 of them attended exams in Yogyakarta.
Over 49,500 graduates turned up for the exams in dozens of venues across the province. Two of the hopefuls were still receiving medical treatment.
M. Fajar of Temanggung in Central Java was suffering typhoid and was listed as a patient at a state hospital in his hometown. Confined to bed, he took his exams in the first aid room of the School of Forestry complex.
The other ill student, Hetty Sasanti Wening of Surakarta, also in Central Java, attended the exams a day after having a air rifle bullet removed from her neck.
In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, at least three copies of the entrance exam to state universities here were stolen, despite strict security measures.
Hasanuddin University rector Radi A. Gani said the copies were found missing at two exam venues, namely the university campus and the SMU 8 state senior high school.
"We have reported the case to the police. If my students are found guilty of committing the crime, heavy administrative punishment will be imposed on them," he said.
A total of 26,646 senior high school graduates attended the first day of the exam in the South Sulawesi capital.
Some vocational school graduates in the North Sumatra capital of Medan complained about the mathematics tests. They said the exams had thrown up totally new material.
"It turned out that the mathematics we learned in school is far different from that we took on today," said John Sidabutar.
In Bandung, exam organizers attributed the trouble-free tests to, among other things, reserve questionnaires. They provided between 10 and 20 reserve copies to each of the 19 venues across the town.
"At least the reserve copies have kept us and exam attendants cool during the examination. We did not panic when some of us found one or two copies damaged," local exam coordinator Tjandra Anggraeni told Antara.
Some 57,000 people attended the exams in the West Java capital.
Elsewhere, two students were disqualified in Surabaya for swapping places, a violation which carries the maximum penalty according to the entrance exam rules.
Committee member Nadjadi Anwar said a student who was supposed to take the exams at Giki III senior high school complex turned up at ITATS Institute of Technology to take the place of his friend.
The organizers detected the "intentional mistake" when they checked the photographic identification on the students' exam cards.
Executive secretary of the national entrance exam Susmalijah Soewondo said a total of 479,927 people attended the two-day exam this year, 21.59 percent up from figures recorded last year. (30/39/swa/amd)