Lawmakers oppose continuation of national final examinations
Lawmakers oppose continuation of national final examinations
P.C. Naommy, Jakarta
The House of Representatives has approved the government's
controversial plan to administer national final examinations
(UAN) to junior and senior high school students, but only for
2004.
"We will oppose the implementation of the UAN from 2005 on and
we will not endorse a budget allocation for the program," said
Taufiqurrachman Saleh, chairman of Commission VI for welfare.
The decision followed a debate between Commission VI and
representatives of the Directorate General for Elementary and
Intermediate Education on Tuesday.
Under the UAN policy, the Ministry of National Education
requires third-year junior and senior high school students to
take national tests in English, Indonesian and mathematics,
instead of letting individual schools make their own exams.
The students have to obtain a passing grade of 4.01 in the
three subjects in order to move on to the next grade.
The commission said the policy violated Law No. 20/2003 on the
national education system, insisting national exams could not be
used to measure the performance of individual students or the
general quality of education in the country.
The first paragraph of Article 58 of the education law says
individual schools are responsible for evaluating students and
overseeing the development of the learning process.
Director General of Elementary and Intermediate Education
Indra Djati Sidi told the commission the ministry drew up the
national exam policy based on its experience organizing school-
based exams between 1969 and 1983.
During that period, the number of senior and junior high
school graduates rose to 100 percent, up from 50 percent from
1945 to 1969 when the government used national exams.
"It turned out that the 100 percent graduation rate did not
reflect the quality of the students or of education in the
country, because many schools marked up their students' test
scores for the sake of their schools' image," said Indra.
Indra added the government was not taking over all of the
material for the final exams, saying that of a total of 12
subjects, the ministry would only oversee three subjects as the
benchmark for the quality of education in the country. He said
the results of the exams and the certificates would remain under
the authority of the schools.
The commission members also said the allocated budget,
amounting to Rp 260 billion (US$30.59 million) for the UAN, was
too high. They said the money should instead have been used to
provide teachers with training to improve their competence.
The most significant way to improve the quality of national
education, according to the commission, would be to improve the
quality of teaching, as well as increasing the accountability and
credibility of educational institutions.
The UAN policy was initiated in 2003, with the education
ministry setting a passing grade of 3.01.
Education observers have predicted that up to 25 percent of
2.5 million junior high school students could fail the exams this
year.
In response, the ministry said students who failed the finals
would not have to wait a year to retake the tests.
"We predict this year's percentage of students who fail the
exams will only reach about 10 percent," said Indra.