Final exam results show real education quality

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A large number of high school students who recently failed the final exams in several provinces has provided education officials with some clues to the actual academic potential of students in the country.

"It (the increase) had been foreseen. The new system was designed to curb the school's role to intervene or influence the results," education expert Arief Rachman told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The Ministry of National Education issued a new decree in February that divides high school graduates into two categories: students who earned a passing grade (lulus) and those who have completed (tamat) their schooling, depending on the results of their final exams.

Under the new system, students can only continue their studies at a university level if they pass the year-end exams and obtain a graduation certificate.

Unlike the old system, students need to secure at least a 6.0 point average in all subjects in the final exams, and each score has to be over 3.0 in order to obtain a diploma.

"With the old system, most students at the end of the year did not understand what they had learned, even after they completed high school," said Arief.

The determinant of education is the process, not the end result, he said.

In Jakarta alone, the rate of failure this year has increased to about 16 percent for those who take the final exams, compared to the previous year, which was only 2.9 percent.

In Banten, that rate hit 30 percent, an increase of 3.7 percent from the previous year. Other provinces, such as West Java and North Sumatra, also experienced significant increases.

Arief said that somehow the results also reflected the fact that many provinces and schools had failed to adjust themselves to the new system.

In some schools, Arief said, students took a series of mock tests to check their competence. "They went through a program to prepare the students for the final exams," said Arief.

Most schools, he said, preferred to wait for instructions from government officials.

He criticized the teaching methods implemented at most schools.

"Many students do not understand what are they are supposed to be learning. That's why most of them just read and memorize their books, but do not really understand it," said Arief.

Separately, the chairman of House of Representatives Commission VI for human resources and welfare, Taufikurrachman Saleh, said the drop in high school graduates suggested that the government needed to do more to improve the quality of teaching.

"The capacity and standard of educational institutions here remains poor," he said.

He expressed concern that some schools had become commercial institutions. In the end, what becomes the main aim is not turning out good graduates, but money and degrees as a formality only, he said.

"Students should be the subject, instead of the object, and teachers or lecturers should act as the facilitators only," he said.