Math exam for vocational schools

Math exam for vocational schools

JAKARTA (JP): Education expert Marsetio Donoseputro welcome the government's recent announcement that mathematics will be included in the national examinations required of all vocational students.

The former rector of the state-run Airlangga University in Surabaya suggested that the government, the schools and the teachers prepare for the plan. "Please also consider how the students will react to it," he asked of the government when contacted by The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Marsetio, a Golkar legislator on the House Commission IX for education, also suggested that the math subjects be arranged by degree of difficulty to not shock the students.

The program in expected to be introduced in May, limiting the time the government has to get prepared.

"The examination should suit the learning materials the students have accepted," said Marsetio, who once represented Indonesia in the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

Among the vocational schools established here are high schools for tourism and for basic economics. After passing examinations in their specific vocations -- such as electronics, food preparation and nutrition, wood carving or painting batik -- the vocational students have to take standard national examinations.

The examinations currently consist of only two subjects: the Indonesian language and (state ideology) Pancasila moral education.

Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro announced the plan last week. The inclusion of mathematics in the national examinations will drive vocational schools to give more attention to the subject, he said.

"Many vocational schools neglected math because it was not on the list of subjects which are nationally tested," he said.

Director of Middle Level Vocational Education Jorlin Pakpahan cited vocational school students' poor mathematics ability as the reason behind the plan.

The industrial sectors, such as tourism, support the plan because they too need workers with good math skills, he said.

Pakpahan pointed out that there are vocational schools which give first year students only two hours of math per week. Others only give the subject to second or third year students.

The plan, he pointed out, should also help in the teaching of the subject.

He said the ministry will be able to identify the quality of mathematics teaching in vocational schools after the plan goes into practice.

According to 1994 ministry data, there are currently 703 state-run vocational schools with 511,207 students and 2,982 private vocational schools with 960,263 students.(31)