Free exams a dream for some

Third-year students from the SMK PGRI I vocational school in Balaraja, Tangerang regency, met with the regency council commission E on social welfare on Wednesday, complaining that they had to pay Rp 440,000 (US$47) to take their National Final Examination.

They asked the councillors to put pressure on the school to return their money because Regent Ismet Iskandar had issued a gubernatorial decree stating that students would not be charged for the test. The students also presented their receipts for the payment.

"We want our money back, please help us. The school management is threatening us and saying we will fail the exam if we report it to our political representatives," said one of the students, who requested anonymity.

The commission chairman Ozi Saerozi said that the administration's exam fund had been distributed to each school earlier this month.

Later, councillor Khamrin Jafar reportedly contacted the regency's education agency head Mas Iman Kusnandar to check on the matter.

Kusnandar apparently spoke with the vocational school's principal, who claimed that the money they collected would be used for the students' graduation ceremony. The principal, as quoted by Kusnandar, added that the school charged the students before the regent issued the decree. -- JP