Jakartans in favor of government-organized exams, survey says
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.