Exam sneak preview sparks investigation
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of National Education confirmed here on Friday that makeups may have to be held by several students in Jakarta and West Java following the discovery of possible leaks in the just completed national high school final examinations (Ebtanas).
Those who would have to take the makeup would do so on June 5.
Director General of Elementary and Secondary Education Indra Djati Sidi said police would work with a special team under the directorate general to weed out the source of the leaked exams.
"This is a criminal case because it involves the state's confidential documents," Indra told reporters.
All students from Elementary, Junior High, and High Schools throughout the country are required to pass an end-of-term national evaluation test in order to continue to a higher level of education.
The three-day examination for high schools students was held starting May 22.
Indra said students from some high schools in Jakarta and West Java were reported to have the question and answer sheets of the examination days before it was due to be held.
He said several students have admitted to buying the sheets from strangers.
According to Indra leaks in West Jakarta were found at SMU Negeri 2 (State High School), SMU Negeri 55 Durentiga, SMU Negeri 19, SMU Negeri 38, and SMU Negeri 101.
Leaks were also found at SMU Negeri 71 and SMU Negeri 100 in East Jakarta, Sumbangsih private high school and Al Azhar Islamic high school in South Jakarta.
In West Java, leaks were found at least in four high school in SMU Negeri 2, SMU Negeri 4, SMU Negeri 5, and SMU Negeri 7 in Tangerang.
Ministry officials were still awaiting reports of leaks found in other provinces.
Indra said full effort had been made to secure the examination transcripts. "The printing and the delivery of the transcripts were secured by security personnel."
He added that the ministry was tracing the flow of the examination transcripts from the time they were drafted to their delivery to regional offices.
Separately, the head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of National Education Alwi Nurdin said makeup examinations would be held from June 5 to June 8, along with the one for students who failed to show up for the initial examination.
"Students who should repeat the examination are those who are implicated in making use of the leaked test data.
"Those whose exam results are far higher compared to their daily scores are suspected," he told The Jakarta Post by phone.
He said that headmasters of the schools whose students were implicated in the wrongdoing will be involved in determining whether the students should take the makeups.
Alwi said the leaked test copies were not from Jakarta, which has different test copies than other provinces.
"Those circulated in Jakarta have the exam directions printed by computer, while the exam directions in the leaked copies were manually printed.
"So, the leaked ones must have been from out of town," he said.
Separately, chairman of the Jakarta Examination Committee, Sulaeman Hariadi, said that the Jakarta office of the National Education Ministry filed a report with city police headquarters on Friday over the alleged use of unauthorized test copies.
In anticipation of repeated occurrences of leaks during the national examination for junior high schools from June 5 to June 7, the Jakarta office of the National Education Ministry will conduct tighter supervision of the students, Sulaeman said.
"We'll conduct body searches of the students," he said, explaining that female students will be searched by female teachers only.
Meanwhile, teachers of the schools where leaks were found denied the possibility of teachers' involvement in the wrongdoing.
"The room where the test copies were stored was locked. Moreover, there were two officers from the Tamansari police subprecinct (in West Jakarta) guarding the school during the exam," said Hari, a teacher of SMUN 2 who was also responsible in guarding the test copies.
However, another SMUN 2 teacher Saragih admitted that one of some 450 students of the school joining the examination was found keeping a leaked test copy on Wednesday.
Saragih said he hoped that the authorities would soon disclose the result of their investigation, "so that teachers will not feel uneasy about being suspected". (ind/imn/08)