High school examinations running smoothly

High school examinations running smoothly

JAKARTA (JP): The state-run final examinations for senior high
schools (SMA) in the city, which began two days ago, are running
smoothly, officials reported.

"The exams have been proceeding as expected," Zainal Arifin
Achmadi, the director general of elementary and intermediate
education of the Ministry of Education and Culture, told The
Jakarta Post yesterday.

Zainal made the remark during his inspecting visit to the
privately-run Islamic SMA Al Azhar, South Jakarta, after having
inspected SMA 6 Mahakam, SMA 70 Bulungan and SMA 46, three state-
run senior high schools in South Jakarta.

Zainal's visit was part of a South Jakarta tour made by three
inspecting teams from the Directorate General of Elementary and
Intermediate Education and the Jakarta Office of the Ministry of
Education and Culture.

Zainal implied that no examination questions have been leaked
or sold to students, as has frequently occurred in the past.

Commenting on cases of state examination materials being sold
to senior high school students a few years ago, Zainal said the
root of the problem lies in exam questions being photocopied,
especially because "those who reproduce the questions are not our
people."

Zainal's opinion was supported by Nannies Wiryoatmodjo, an
inspector from the city office of the Ministry of Education and
Culture. "The source of the leakage lies in the hands of those
involved in the printing of the examination materials," Nannies
said.

Source

Another possible source of leakage, according to Nasichin, a
divisional head of the directorate general, could be if exam
questions are sold by school officers who transport them from the
ministry to their schools.

However, this is considered highly unlikely by Jajoek
Masroeriah Assaat, the principal of SMA 6, who is supervising
this year's state exams in 28 schools in South Jakarta.

"The principal of the school, accompanied by at least one
staff member, is the only one authorized to receive the exam
questions," Jajoek said, adding that all school staff who are
involved in administering the state exams are required to sign a
statement that they will not deliberately disclose any question
or part of a question to any parties.

Jajoek said, each morning between five and six, school
principals are required to accept exam questions to be used for
that day only.

Hiring the service of the police is another measure to secure
the secrecy of the questions.

"The exam materials, which came here on May 1, are kept in a
room, guarded around the clock by two policemen," Rafli Rusli,
the principal of SMA 68 in Central Jakarta, told the Post.

Ismeth AH, the deputy principal of SMA 4 in Central Jakarta,
which also hires the police's service to help secure exam
questions, said schools are allowed to ask for police assistance
during the examination periods.

Measures

When asked what measures are being taken to prevent such
leakages, Zainal said different questions are given to different
groups of students in examination areas called "rayon."

For this year's state exams, Jakarta is divided into 13
examination areas, two in Central Jakarta, one in North Jakarta,
two in West Jakarta, four in South Jakarta and another four in
East Jakarta.

Should any leakage occur, we can quickly identify and locate
the most likely source of the leakage, Zainal said.

And to anticipate such a leakage, the ministry has prepared
six substitute exams which can be immediately used to replace
exam questions which are found to have been sold to students,
Nasichin added.

Another measure is the students' names are being replaced by
codes so it is impossible for correctors to identify the students
whose answer sheets they are correcting, Jajoek said.

To enhance objectivity during correction, at least two
teachers are required to correct the answers, Jajoek said, adding
that the answer sheets are distributed at random to teachers for
correction.

A total of 58,663 students in Jakarta are at present taking
the nationwide state-run examinations for senior high schools,
which will continue until the end of this week. (06)