Jakartans in favor of government-organized exams, survey says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators and education experts may object to them, but most Jakartans are in favor of final exams for elementary and high school students.

In a survey jointly organized by the Taylor Nelson and Sofres (TNS), a leading market information company, and The Jakarta Post, 77 percent of the 501 respondents said the government should continue to organize final school examinations.

Only 21 percent of respondents though individual schools should organized them and 2 percent had no preference.

Eighty-three percent of the respondents believe that the score of final examinations are the best indicator of a student's aptitude and ability, and 16 percent do not subscribe to the idea.

Eighty-three percent of respondents also believe the final examinations are a fair system by which to determine whether or not one should go to university.

The 501 respondents were males and females aged 18 years or older living in the capital. Data collection was in the form of face-to-face interviews from Feb. 8 to Feb. 11.

Final national exams for third graders of junior and senior high schools and six graders of elementary schools have become controversial following the enactment of the new Education Law on the national education system in 2003. The law stipulates that, among other things, the final evaluation of students is done by schools.

Education experts have also said that national examinations are not in line with the competence-based curriculum and school autonomy as stipulated in the Education Law.

"It is the teachers who know their students best through the final exams, not the bureaucrats in the central government. That's why I think it would be better if the exams were organized by respective schools," education observer Mochtar Buchori said on Tuesday.

Mochtar said the duty of the government was to ensure that there would not be a vast disparity between schools in the quality of education.

House of Representatives Commission X on education affairs has suggested that Minister of National Education Bambang Sudibyo should not organize this year's final exams.

The commission plans to seek the Supreme Court's opinion on the validity of final school exams. So far, there has been no indication that the government will not organize the final exams this year.

Separately, education observer Arief Rahman welcomed government-organized exams nationwide, saying they were necessary to control the quality of subjects taught at school.

"The exams could also become a yardstick by which to measure teachers' teaching standards," Arief said.

The final exams, he asserted, could be used to help draw up an education map, which would become an important reference for the government to plan future strategies.