Free exams a dream for some

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