Legislator calls for termination of national exam
Legislator calls for termination of national exam
JAKARTA (JP): Following reports of manipulation of elementary
school pupils' final scores, a legislator has suggested that the
government scrap the national examinations altogether.
Wuryanto of House of Representatives' Commission IX expressed
serious concern yesterday about reports of the selling of
improved scores for certain prices and the lowering of the scores
of pupils whose parents were unable or unwilling to pay the
bribes.
"These reports have reached a saddening level," Wuryanto, who
is a former rector of the State Teachers' College in Semarang,
was quoted as saying by Antara.
Wuryanto made the remarks during a hearing of the commission,
which oversees education and religious affairs, with Director
General of Elementary and Secondary Education Zainal Arifin
Achmady.
About 30 parents in West Java recently complained to the
Bandung Legal Aid Office that they suspected manipulation of
their children's final examination scores. They said children who
usually got low marks could receive high exam scores by paying
bribes of up to Rp 400,000 (US$178.25).
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro said
earlier that the reports referred only to a few incidents.
"If clever students get lower scores than less clever students
due to manipulation by teachers and parents, this could be
destructive of students' mentality," Wuryanto warned, without
elaborating.
During the hearing yesterday, Achmady reiterated the
government's stance that the national examination system, as well
as the procedures for the calculation of students' final scores,
are to be maintained.
"We still need a national standard by which to evaluate
students," said Achmady.
The final scores, known locally as NEM (Nilai Evaluasi Murni),
are calculated on the basis of both teachers' routine evaluations
of students through semester reports and students' scores in
nationally-held examinations.
The nation-wide standard is needed to establish rough
estimates of the respective abilities of students from different
areas, Achmady said.
As the NEM is a prerequisite for entrance to junior high
school, manipulation has frequently occurred.
Achmady acknowledged that his office had been receiving
suggestions about various other ways of calculating the scores
and about ways of dealing with the alleged manipulation.
"This dilemma (of combining the need for a national standard
with evaluation by teachers which are accessible to bribes)
demands our deeper comprehension," he said.
Achmady also told the hearing, chaired by legislator Muhammad
Affandi, about difficulties being faced by the compulsory nine-
years education program.
Launched last year, the program aims at ensuring that all
children have a minimum of nine years of schooling. The project
is an extension of the previous compulsory six years of schooling
program.
A total of 6.27 million children aged between 13 and 15 are
not yet receiving the secondary schooling required under the
"nine-years" program. The government says it expects that by the
year 2009, the target of enrolling all school-age children in
school will be reached.
"Our survey revealed that one of the difficulties is the
unwillingness of children in industrial areas to go to school,"
said Achmady. He did not give details of the places he was
referring to, nor did he elaborate about the survey.
"Many elementary school graduates working in industry don't
see any reason to continue going to school," he said. "There is
no incentive to do so because companies pay junior high graduates
the same wages that they pay to elementary school graduates."
Achmady said that more "open junior high schools", with
schedules that are more flexible and geared to the time
constraints faced by working children, are needed to solve the
problem. (anr)