Lestari Moerdijat: Integrity Must Be Prioritised in Education Selection System
Cheating in the National Selection Based on Tests (SNBT) for medical programmes has raised serious alarms for the national education system. “Cheating in the admission process must not be tolerated as it risks undermining future healthcare quality,” said Deputy Chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) RI Lestari Moerdijat in a written statement on Tuesday (26/5).
Her remarks followed findings by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) that nearly 99% of SNBT 2026 cheating cases occurred in medical programmes. Rerie, as she is commonly known, stressed that these incidents are not isolated but symptoms of deeper integrity issues within the education ecosystem.
She referenced the 2024 Education Integrity Assessment Survey (SPI) by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which found cheating present in 78% of surveyed schools and 98% of universities. The survey covered 36,888 educational institutions across 507 districts and cities in 38 provinces, involving 449,865 respondents. The national education integrity index stood at 69.50, classified as “corrective”, indicating significant room for improvement.
“Data shows a clear thread we cannot ignore. Cheating in SNBT does not suddenly appear in exam halls; it stems from tolerated dishonesty since basic and secondary education,” Rerie, also a member of the House of Representatives’ Commission X, stated.
She cited examples such as copying during tests, illicit collaboration, sharing answers via messaging groups, hidden use of devices, plagiarism, and school environments tolerating dishonest behaviour as early signs of a cheating culture that must be eradicated.
“When children grow up seeing cheating as normal, education loses its fundamental role in shaping honest, responsible, and dignified individuals,” she added. “If students learn that grades outweigh honesty and outcomes surpass process, cheating becomes a strategy in later stages—this poses a danger to the nation’s future.”
Rerie argued that the SNBT cheating cases, particularly in medical programmes, must prompt a fundamental review of the national education system. She said administrative penalties alone are insufficient; the root cause—educational culture overly focused on results, rankings, and graduation rates at the expense of integrity—must be addressed.
“Medicine is a profession that deals with human lives. The path to becoming a doctor must be clean from the start. We cannot allow such a noble profession to be entered through dishonest means,” she stressed.
She urged the government to overhaul selection processes and the entire education ecosystem, from primary to higher education. While technological monitoring in exams is important, she said, it is not enough. The system must foster integrity from the outset—in classrooms, evaluation processes, teacher-student relationships, and how schools and families define success.
“We cannot rely solely on metal detectors, surveillance cameras, or punishments after violations. We must build an education system where honesty is integral to intelligence from the beginning,” Rerie insisted.
She praised the Ministry’s decisive action in blacklisting 38 SNBT 2026 participants found guilty of cheating via proxies and prohibited devices. However, she emphasised prevention must be the priority. She noted that during the 2025 Computer-Based Written Test (UTBK), the National Student Admission Selection Committee (SNPMB) recorded at least 50 cheaters and 10 proxies in six days, using methods like camera-equipped glasses, microphones, hearing aids, screen-recording apps, and remote desktop tools.
“These facts show cheating is becoming more organised, sophisticated, and recurrent. Our response must be systemic,” she said. “Education must not merely produce students who pass exams but individuals who uphold honesty even when unobserved.”
Rerie fully supported the Ministry’s zero-tolerance policy against cheating, calling it a positive step to protect honest candidates and safeguard the dignity of the medical profession. “But fundamentally, the nation must break the cheating culture at the earliest educational stages. The future of education depends not only on who is smartest but on who is most honest in their journey,” she concluded.