Aliyah students complain

JAKARTA (JP): Students of a state-owned Islamic senior high school (madrasah aliyah) in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, complained that most of the nationwide state examination questions (Ebtanas) are new to them.

"Difficult", shouted a number of the students in chorus when asked about the nationwide state examination, administered on Tuesday.

One of the students said he was not conversant with most of the material which appeared in the exam because he did not get them in the school.

Of the students, only Achmad Alwi, 17, who said that he was familiar with most of the questions and that the exam was not difficult for him. He is the second best student at the school.

This year students of Islamic senior high schools who are not in purely Islamic studies are for the first time required to take Ebtanas nationwide state examinations instead of Ebta school exams.

In general senior high schools, there are four study programs: A1 for students specializing in mathematics and physics, A2 in biology, A3 in social studies, and A4 in cultural studies.

Madrasah aliyah, on the other hand, offers five study programs: A1 for those specializing in Islamic studies, A2 in physics, A3 in biology, A4 in social studies, and A5 in cultural studies.

Examination questions for Ebtanas are made and controlled by the Ministry of Education and Culture, while those for Ebta by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Chamdun, the head of a subdirectorate in charge of the development of madrasah aliyah at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, when asked to comment on the students' complaints, said that the difference between Ebta and Ebtanas is actually not great since both are based on the government-set 1984 curriculum.

Unlike teaching materials for general schools, which can be given in full, the materials for madrasah aliyah, however, are "condensed" because in such madrasah, students who take either science programs or social studies are also required to take Islamic studies, Chamdun said.

However, in the new 1994 curriculum, which is scheduled to be introduced next month, there will be no more condensed teaching materials, Chamdun added.

Another difference is that unlike their counterparts in general schools, students of madrasah are required to study Islamic studies, Chamdun said, adding that the marks they get in these studies have an impact on whether or not they pass the entire exam.

"Roughly estimated I can say that the proportion of Islamic studies to science programs or social studies given to them is 30 percent to 70 percent," Chamdun said.

Problems

Ahmad Suwandi, the principal of the Islamic senior high school Madrasah Aliyah Negeri I Filial Mampang Prapatan, which was set up in 1968 and is the oldest madrasah in Indonesia, said the administering of Ebtanas in his school created some scheduling and administration problems.

"Actually madrasah students do not need to take Ebtanas because Ebta is rated the same in effect as stated by a 1984 joint decree by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ministry of Education and Culture and Ministry of Home Affairs, Ahmad said.

Another problem, according to Ahmad, was that he was not yet informed of whether a gubernatorial decree which regulates the examination fees has been issued.

Students of his madrasah are required to pay examination fees of Rp 24,500 (US$11.4) for both Ebta and Ebtanas, Ahmad said, adding that other schools require their students to pay Rp 35,000 for Ebtanas fees. (06)