Education Ministry: Academic Test to Objectively Map Students’ Abilities

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) said the 2026 Academic Ability Test (TKA) would be a government initiative to map students’ academic abilities objectively through nationally standardised measurement.

Rahmawati, head of the ministry’s Centre for Educational Assessment, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the TKA would measure students’ learning outcomes against the same standards across Indonesia, giving a more objective picture of their academic abilities.

“The curriculum is the same from Sabang to Merauke, and the learning targets are uniform too. Through the TKA, we want to see how far students have progressed. There have been assessments before, but they were subjective because the standards varied depending on the school or teacher,” Rahmawati said.

She said the TKA was designed to provide a picture of students’ learning outcomes that could be compared against national standards, unlike assessments that had depended on the standards set by individual schools or teachers.

The TKA will be computer-based and use a variety of questions designed to measure students’ understanding, ability to process information and capacity to apply their knowledge.

“Learning should reach the point where students understand, can put what they have learnt into practice and are able to reason. That is the way of thinking we want to encourage through the TKA,” Rahmawati said.

The test is scheduled to take place from 26 October to 8 November 2026, followed by make-up sessions from 16 to 29 November.

“With TKA questions, students first need the stamina to read the material provided. Once they have developed reading stamina, they can draw out and extract information,” she said.

Dewi also stressed the importance of protecting students’ psychological wellbeing so they do not view the TKA as a threat. The school holds special support sessions every Friday.

Through these weekly sessions, students are becoming familiar with multiple-answer multiple-choice questions, in which more than one answer may be correct.