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.